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Saudi Arabia and Greece are linking their power grids, what does that mean for Egypt? The Saudi National Grid and Greece’s Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) have set up an SPV — dubbed Saudi Greek Interconnection — to prepare feasibility studies for connecting the power grids of both nations. This would mark Saudi Arabia’s first power link to Europe, EnterpriseAM Saudi reported earlier this week.
The question: What does Saudi’s interest in selling clean electricity mean to Egypt’s regional energy hub ambitions? The Sisi administration has been working for years to position us as the premier energy hub in the eastern Mediterranean — riding the advantages of proximity, LNG processing and export infrastructure, and big investment in renewables.
The idea: To become one of Europe’s top energy suppliers, whether that’s clean electricity, natural gas, or green hydrogen. On the electricity front alone, we’re talking about three projects that could connect us to Greece: The 3 GW Egypt-Greece Interconnector, the 2GW Euro-Africa interconnector, and the Greece–Africa Power Interconnector (GAP). There are two other projects on the drawing board that would connect us to Italy, as we’ve previously reported.
Worry? Regulators have only so much bandwidth — and banks so much money. Saudi Arabia is angling to become a significant competitor in the regional green energy and logistics markets. It is pushing for overland routes that could (for some types of goods) compete for business with the Suez Canal. It is building out port and shipbuilding infrastructure. It’s pushing hard on green hydrogen. And now it’s lining up to sell green energy to Greece. How much time do Greek regulators have?
Worry not? Europe has a massive appetite for clean energy. The Saudi project, and others from KSA and the UAE, will not hurt Egypt’s aspirations of becoming a regional energy hub, Ahmed Hegazy, head of the Egypt Green Energy Association, told Enterprise. “Europe has major energy needs and it is worried about reliving the energy crisis it witnessed in 2022,” he added, explaining that the region is inking a number of agreements aimed at securing its future energy needs.
