Saudi Arabia and Egypt will issue tenders for a project to link the electricity grids of both countries in March, a Saudi newspaper reported on Monday.

The project, which has been on the cards for nearly five years, would have a capacity of 3gigawatts and will be completed in 2020, the Arabic language daily Al-Madina said, quoting Egyptian Electricity Minister Mohammed Shaker.

"The tender for this important project between Egypt and Saudi Arabia will be issued in March," Shaker told an investment conference in Cairo on Sunday.

The paper said the project would cost around $1.6 billion and Egypt would contribute about $600 million.

Saudi officials have said earlier the 1,300-kilometer, 500 kV DC transmission line will start at Badr in Egypt, pass through the Northwestern Saudi town of Tabuk and end at the Western Medina city.

In November 2017, US-based industrial giant GE announced that it has connected the 500/220 kilovolt (kV) Badr Gas Insulated Substation in Egypt to the country’s grid. The statement said the substation will connect 1.5 GW, or 50 percent of the interconnection project’s total exchange capacity.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@thomsonreuters.com)

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