Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly witnessed on Monday the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) and the Norwegian company Scatec ASA on conducting studies for the electrical interconnection project between Egypt and Europe to export renewable energy from Egypt to Europe via Italy.

The MoU was signed by Sabah Mashaly, Chairperson and Managing Director of the EETC, and Terje Pilskog, CEO of Scatec ASA.

Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker stated that the MoU supports and strengthens cooperation frameworks between Egypt and the European Union, especially in the field of energy in general and renewable energy in particular. It also contributes to cooperation and coordination with regard to exporting electric energy to Europe through Italy.

Sabah Mashali said that the scope of the MoU includes cooperation to start conducting studies in preparation for the implementation of a project to export renewable energy to Europe via Italy, using a marine interconnection line with a capacity of not less than 3 gigawatts.

She noted that the MoU also includes a number of steps and procedures, including that Scatec obtains the approval of the Italian network operator, and appoints an international consultant specialised in electrical interconnection projects similar to the project subject to the MoU, provided that part of the scope of the consultant’s work is to identify renewable energy sources that will be used to export energy. In addition to all necessary infrastructure elements, as well as determining the route of the submarine cable required for the project and the best method for its implementation within the framework of compliance with performance standards related to environmental and social sustainability.

Mashali added: “After the completion of the project studies, and the approval of the EETC, a discussion and agreement will begin on the steps to implement the project with the aim of exporting renewable energy to Europe via Italy, in coordination with the transmission network operator in Italy.”

Terje Pilskog, CEO of Scatec ASA, stated: “In light of the results of the project studies, and the adoption of results of the study by the network operators in Egypt and Italy, it will later lead the project development activities and will be mainly responsible for obtaining project financing at competitive prices from international financing institutions with a long repayment period, provided that this is done by agreement between the Egyptian and Italian sides.”

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