Prysmian Group, a world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry, has been awarded a contract worth €221 million ($259 million) for the construction of a ±500kV HVDC submarine and land cable system that will connect Saudi Arabia and Egypt across the Gulf of Aqaba.

 

The project was awarded to Prysmian Group by the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) and the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC). 

 

The new link will facilitate the strategic exchange of energy between the two countries and will later connect the GCC countries with the African continent.

 

The project involves the design, supply, installation and commissioning of around 127.5 km of HVDC ±500kV Mass Impregnated submarine single-core cables, 43.5 km of 36kV XLPE submarine single-core cables and double-wire armouring, and 61 km of Minisub submarine fibre optic cables for telecommunications and Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) monitoring. 

 

According to Prysmian, this wider interconnection will transport electricity between the Badr substation (Cairo) and Madinah East substation in Saudi Arabia.

 

The cable route will cross the Gulf of Aqaba, spanning the territorial waters of Egypt and Saudi Arabia running 20 km long and a deep-water installation at around 1,000 m, in addition to sections of underground land cables between the landfall and the transition stations located on each side. 

 

The delivery and commissioning of the project are scheduled for 2024, it stated.

 

On the contract win, Hakan Ozmen, EVP Projects, Prysmian Group, said: "This award represents a further confirmation of our role as a global leading supplier and installer of HVDC submarine cable interconnections. We thank EETC and SEC for this project as it is an important opportunity for us to be a key partner of two leading transmission systems operators and support the upgrade of power grids infrastructure in the region."

 

The mass impregnated (MI) cables will be produced in Arco Felice, Italy — Prysmian Group’s centre of excellence for the production of this kind of products. The fibre optic submarine cables will be manufactured in Nordenham, Germany.

 

The offshore installation activities will be performed by the group’s cable-laying vessels, suitable for deep-water cable-laying operations, stated Ozmen.

 

This highly strategic interconnection project further confirms Prysmian Group’s unique expertise in applying its high value-added HVDC technology and installation know-how in a challenging environment, he added.-TradeArabia News Service