RIYADH — Saudi Arabia signed on Sunday a memorandum of understanding for the electricity grid interconnection project with Jordan at a ceremony held at the headquarters of the Saudi Energy Efficiency Center here. The project, at an approximate length of 164 km, will link Qurayyat and East Amman. Speaking on the occasion, Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman said, "The project is part of the Kingdom's electrical grid connection plans, and it comes within the executive programs of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 that focus on investing in the strategic location in the Kingdom's electrical network." He said that the memorandum comes as a result of a comprehensive and detailed study carried out by the concerned authorities in the two countries. "There are promising opportunities from the project to support the reliability of the electrical networks between the two countries, achieve economic savings, absorption of electrical networks to enter renewable energy and achieve optimal investments in electricity generation projects." He said that within the framework of this study, several options were identified for the power gird connection path between the two countries by adopting the technical, operational, economic, environmental and organizational foundations. The minister said that the best option found was to link Qurayyat and East Amman. Prince Abdulaziz stressed that the Kingdom has ambitious plans to become one of the main countries in the field of producing and exporting electricity, using renewable energy when the necessary infrastructure is completed. On her part, Jordanian Minister of Energy Hala Zawati emphasized Jordan's intention to generate about half of the electric power from local sources within 10 years. She also highlighted the importance of electrical interconnection projects with neighboring countries of Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Palestine, and strengthening the existing connection with Egypt, in addition to the connection with the Gulf power grid. She said that Jordan has adopted a 10-year plan to expand renewable energy sources and shale oil production that will reduce dependence on foreign fuel imports that burden its economy and push it towards self-sufficiency.
