Taqa eyes stake in Greece-Cyprus interconnection project: The Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) has signed an MoU to explore the acquisition of a stake in the 900 km high-voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnector project between Greece and Cyprus, according to a statement. If the agreement goes through, Taqa will join Greece's Independent Power Transmission Operation (IPTO) and the Cyprus Government as shareholders of the interconnector project, which has a total estimated cost of EUR 1.9 bn.

This came as no surprise: Taqa revised its growth targets last month and committed AED 75 bn to infrastructure investments as it aims for 150 GW power generation by 2030.

More HVDC ventures for Taqa: Taqa signed an MoU with the Romanian Power Grid Company Transelectrica, Meridiam, E-INFRA, and Fluor to carry out a feasibility study for a HVDC infrastructure project in Romania and invested GBP 25 mn in UK-based renewables developer Xlinks in April for a 3.8k km HVDC subsea interconnector to transport 3.6 GW of renewable energy from Morocco to the UK.

Interconnecters set the stage for Taqa’s renewables targets: “HVDC projects are vital to connect clean energy projects to the end users, and we are ambitiously accelerating investment and growth in our infrastructure business to help our stakeholders scale up their clean energy to meet the growing demand for secure, reliable and sustainable power,” said Taqa group CEO Jasim Husain Thabet.

ELSEWHERE IN THE REGION- The first phase of the Egypt-Saudi interconnection project will be completed within weeks, Youm7 reports, citing an unnamed source at the Electricity and Renewable Energy Ministry. The project is set to be connected to the Badr transformer station by May 2025. The 3 GW project is part of Egypt's plan to become a major exporter of renewable energy.

REMEMBER- There are other regional interconnectors in progress, and some aim to link to Europe: In July, Egyptian authorities were in talks with the Greek government about how to fund the planned EUR 4 bn 3-GW Egypt-Greece Interconnector (GREGY), a source from Egypt’s Electricity Ministry told Enterprise at the time. Saudi Arabia is also establishing its own 1 GW electrical interconnection project with Iraq, and Morocco is looking to lay a 3.8k km HVDC subsea cable to eventually transport 3.6 GW of renewable energy to the UK. Tunisia is also working on a planned electrical interconnection project with Italy.

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