The Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) CEO Ahmad Al-Ibrahim said the GCC grid had an extra 60,000 megawatts of electricity during the winter, noting that GCC states are working on exporting the extra power to European countries as soon as interconnection is made between Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt.
Ibrahim added that the final decision on this project will be made by 2020, when the related studies are completed. He noted that a memorandum of understanding had been signed on interconnecting Europe and Africa through Egypt.
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Separately, Oil Minister and Minister of Electricity and Water Khaled Al-Fadhel discussed during a recent meeting with Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) undersecretary Mohammed Bushehri and assistant undersecretaries the possibility of changing the name of the electrical distribution grid sector’s ‘technical control department’ to ‘power efficiency department’ to work on rationalizing power consumption in the industrial sector and other sectors.
In this regard, informed sources said that Fadhel urged MEW’s planning and training sector to prepare a full study about the proposal. The sources also noted that Fadhel asked to accelerate the procedures related to executing the renewable energy projects to reach the target set by HH the Amir to provide 15 percent of the needed power from those sources by 2030.
By A Saleh
