EGYPT – Egypt’s Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker has stated that the capacity of electricity linkage with Sudan will be raised from 70 megawatts to 250 megawatts by 2021.

Phase one of the Egypt-Sudan electricity project was officially launched earlier this year after experimental operation was carried out successfully.

The project, according to the minister for electricity and renewable energy, is expected to add an additional 180M within a year and half and is expected to have a total capacity of 300MW upon completion.

According to Egypt Today, the extension of Toshky transmission plant, which is a double circuit transmission line stretching over 170 kilometers with a capacity of 220/66 kV, has been established and linked with Sudan’s Wadi Halfa in collaboration with Siemens.

Chairperson of the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Co. (EETC) Sabah Mashaly indicated that the network consists of air-insulated substations (AIS) to inhibit power loss.

Sabah further revealed that the amount of electricity to be transmitted along the Egypt-Sudan electricity interlinkage is estimated to be 400 megawatts.

An official from the Ministry of Electricity pointed out that the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Co. finished the overhead power lines in a record time of less than six months.

The official further revealed that experts from both countries are exchanging visits to accelerate the final works in the project.

Egypt Today reported that the electricity interlinkage phases will enter service gradually in tandem with the rate of accomplishment on the Sudanese side.

The move to increase electricity interlinkage comes at a time when Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan are engaged in last-ditch talks to resolve a dispute over Addis Ababa’s construction of a giant dam on the river Nile.

This month Ethiopia is set to start storing water in the vast reservoir of the $4.8bn Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, set to be Africa’s largest, and which it sees as a pathway to widespread electrification and a prosperous future.

The hydropower project will have the capacity to generate 6,000 megawatts of electricity, making it Africa’s largest.

The dam is seen by Ethiopia as a linchpin of its development plans, allowing it to bring electricity to tens of millions of its people.

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