Egypt-Italy Green Vein energy corridor project implementation to begin in 2024 - investor
ABU DHABI. Dec 15 (Interfax) - The project to create a green energy corridor between Egypt and Northern Italy, which involves laying a 2,800-kilometer high-voltage submarine cable and building related infrastructure, will advance to its implementation phase next year, Dr. Tajeddine Seif, Chairman of K&K Group (UAE), which is investing in the project, told Interfax.
The stakeholders in the project, known as "Green Vein," signed a Memorandum of Understanding during the COP28 global climate conference in the UAE last week. They include Siemens Energy, Prysmian Group and CESI in addition to K&K. The energy corridor's planned capacity is 3 GW, which is approximately 5% of peak energy consumption in Italy.
"This is the world's first green energy transmission project. Nobody has done this before. Electricity will come directly from major sources of solar and wind generation [currently being built in Egypt]," Seif said.
"This will be a genuine 'green' corridor. We will not be using Egypt's power grid, since it receives electricity from various sources - not just renewable energy sources, but also gas and diesel. We decided to do an entirely 'green' project," he said.
Potential risks
The preparatory phase, which included an environmental review, was lengthy and took about three years. The project initiators had to come up with answers to several questions that would determine whether it would be possible to carry the Green Vein plan out at all, Seif said.
"You can't lay a submarine cable just anywhere. Our task when mapping a route through the Mediterranean Sea was to avoid depths of more than 3.6 km, because otherwise it would simply not be possible to lay the cable. Right now there is no cable in the world for a depth of more than 2.5 km. Italy's Prysmian Group has the technology [for laying cables at depths of 3.5 km] which is now being tested," he said.
Egypt is climatically one of the best countries in the world for solar energy generation with 4,000 hours of sunshine per year and there are also good conditions for wind generation, which means lower generating costs compared to European renewable energy capacity. But wind and sunshine do not generate electricity all year round, so the project involves building an energy storage system, Seif said. In addition, powerful converters are needed both in Egypt and in Italy.
"Three gigawatts is a big converter, and only two companies make them: Hitachi and Siemens Energy. There is a shortage of them on the market. If I write to Hitachi or Siemens Energy right now and say 'Dear Gentlemen, I need 3 GW converters,' they'll say fine, okay, we'll get back to you in 2030 or 2035," Seif said, outlining another potential project risk.
"But we have already signed a contract with Siemens Energy a long time ago, so they'll start to build converters for us in 2024. It wasn't easy at all, in fact. Siemens Energy works with governments, and we are a private company. This was a major undertaking for us. It was the same with producing the cable for the project. The challenge was to get Siemens Energy and Prysmian on board," Seif said.
The engineering company CESI is another project collaborator. Seif said that for the first time it had agreed to act as a project manager, and not just in the capacity of consultant.
"I'll be honest, it was a something of a gamble from the start. We spent millions of dollars on preparations for a project that could go wrong at any moment if it hit a blind spot. For example, if the route went as deep as 3.7 km somewhere there would be no project at all, because we'd have to wait at least five years for Prysmian or someone else to produce and test a cable that can be laid at such a depth," Seif said.
Plan of action
He said the next stage was to approve the plan of action and progress to a detailed feasibility study. "We are due to start [project implementation] in the second half of 2024," Seif said.
The fact that the agreement was signed by all companies involved in the project means that "we really are ready to start," he said.
The energy corridor's capacity may in time be augmented from the planned 3 GW, depending how the capabilities to accept it increase. The technology also allows supplies in both directions: if a cheaper production technology is found in Europe than in Egypt, then electricity can be exported from Italy, Seif said.
He said he was confident there would be no problems with financing. "We have had projects where we had to solve the problem of where to attract financing. Here we have to decide which financing to choose," Seif said.