The Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) announced on Tuesday that it signed five contracts worth $220 million for implementing an electricity interconnection between the GCC nations and Iraq, the Authority tweeted from its official account.

The project involves the construction of a double circuit 400 kV transmission line from Wafra station in Kuwait to Al Faw station in south Iraq with a total transmission capacity of 1,800 megawatts (MW) and a length of 295 kilometres, the tweet said.

GCCIA said Phase 1 of the project, which is slated to be completed in 24 months, will have a transmission capacity of 500MW.

The contracts were signed with KEC International and Kalpataru Power Transmission from India; Turkey's Calik Enerji; Saudi Arabia's Cegelec Saudi, and Qatar's National Contracting Company (NCC), according to the signing photos tweeted by GCCIA.

The scope of the contracts wasn't disclosed, but past reports have indicated that the project also includes the construction of a new transformer substation in Wafra, Kuwait, with a capacity of about 400 KV.

According to a Zawya Projects report, Iraq and GCC had signed a grid connection pact on the sidelines of the Jeddah Security and Development Summit in July 2022.

In March 2022, Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) signed a loan agreement with GCCIA for 35 Million Kuwaiti dinars (equivalent to about $115.5 million) to help finance the GCCIA - Iraq interconnection project.

In August 2022, Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) signed a financing agreement with the GCCIA for the project.

Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq had agreed to implement an interconnection project between the three countries with a total capacity of 1,000 MW at a trilateral summit in Amman in August 2020.  

Read more: Iraq's electricity link with Jordan to enter service by June 2023

(Writing by P Deol; Editing by Anoop Menon)
(anoop.menon@lseg.com)