SA to invest $133B in power projects and new interconnection grid

2016-2-23

 Saudi Arabia, Riyadh: Saudi Arabia will need to invest $133.3 billion in electricity projects over the next ten years to cope with rising power demand, according to Saudi Electricity and Water Minister, reports Reuters.

"The expansion plan in the sector...requires the execution of electricity projects for the next ten years whose costs will exceed 500 billion riyals [$133.3 billion] and in which the private sector is expected to take part," Minister Abdullah al-Hussayen said.

The country expects peak electricity to hit 90,000 megawatts (MW) in 2022, while the installed capacity is around 70,000 MW now.

Hussayen also announced that contracts to build an electricity interconnection grid to connect Saudi Arabia and Egypt would be signed before mid-2016, and the project would operate at full capacity before mid-2019.

Source: Reuters