Indian company wins a $120 million electrical interconnection ‎contract between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait

MEED magazine revealed that the Indian company KEC International won a contract from the Gulf electrical interconnection network project, which provides for the extension of 255 km of overhead transmission lines with a capacity of 400 kilovolts.

According to “Kuwaiti News”, the magazine learned that the GCC Electricity Interconnection Authority has awarded the Indian company the project of the line linking the sub-stations in the Kuwaiti Al-Wafra and Al-Fadhili regions in Saudi Arabia, and in addition to extending the overhead transmission lines, the project includes the construction of control centers transmission stations and ground insulation improvement works.

It added that the project, estimated to be worth about $120 million, is expected to be completed by 2025, and it represents an extension of a 400-kilovolt double-circuit line, which connects the Al-Zour region in Kuwait to Gunan in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The line contains an intermediate link in Al-Fadhili with its associated substations, which was completed in 2009 as part of the first phase of the Gulf electrical interconnection network.

Last March, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development signed a financing agreement worth 35 million dinars (115 million dollars) with the Gulf electrical interconnection network, noting that the exchange of electricity on the network between the GCC states is growing at a rate ranging between 15-20% annually. .

The proportional savings of member states amounted to about 192 million dollars in 2021, compared to 182 million dollars in 2020, according to a local media report quoting the CEO of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Ahmed al-Ibrahim, while the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries achieved cumulative savings worth $3 billion since the network was launched in 2009.

The savings are offset by reductions in operating and maintenance expenses, costs related to energy management, carbon emissions and the construction of fiber optic networks.

The actual scale of energy trade in the GCC has not been disclosed, although data in the public domain indicates interconnection ranges between 500MW and 600MW. During the bilateral contracts between the GCC countries.