As of: March 23, 2024, 12:38 p.m
By: Max Schäfer
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Press
Split
In the pursuit of climate neutrality, the EU is working with countries in North Africa.
The plans for two electricity highways are becoming more and more concrete.
Cairo - In the fight against the climate crisis and as part of the energy transition towards emission-free generation, European consumers could use electricity from North Africa in the future.
The electricity will flow to southern Europe via underwater cables.
The EU is eyeing Egypt as a new partner.
“Egypt has all the resources to become a renewable energy hub, especially with regard to renewable hydrogen,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a meeting with Egypt’s President Adbel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday, March 17 .
Von der Leyen mentioned an important investment in Egypt: the “Gregy” project.
The EU, Greece and Egypt are pushing ahead with an electricity highway across the Mediterranean
“Gregy”, short for “Greek Egypt Interconnections”, is a planned power line from Egypt to Greece.
Emission-free, green electricity is to be transported to southern Europe via the electricity highway in the Mediterranean.
The Greek Copelouzos Group's project envisages the construction of solar and wind power plants in the Egyptian desert valley Wadi El Natrum, reports
Handelsblatt
.
EU Commission President von der Leyen at a meeting with Egypt's President al-Sisi: Green electricity should flow from North Africa to Europe in the future.
© Dirk Waem/dpa
The line will have a capacity of three gigawatts.
This would allow it to replace 4.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually and thus save ten million tons of CO2 emissions, explains the planning company Copelouzos Group.
The company expects costs of 4.2 billion euros.
According to
Handelsblatt,
the investment decision for the project could be made at the beginning of 2025.
Green electricity from North Africa should also be brought to Germany
On the one hand, Greece wants to use the green electricity from Egypt for private households.
On the other hand, the production of climate-neutral, green hydrogen is planned.
Some of it could then be exported.
According to previous considerations by the Copelouzos Group, a third of the electricity should be exported to other European countries.
The green electricity from Egypt should also arrive in Germany.
According to Handelsblatt
, the network operator Admie is
already planning a 500-kilovolt line across the Balkans to Austria and southern Germany.
The power line will increase “energy supply security in Europe,” said EU Commission President von der Leyen at the meeting in Cairo.
EU wants to push ahead with further energy projects with Egypt - Italy is already planning a line
However, “Gregy” is not the only joint green electricity project. Von der Leyen made it clear during the visit: “They are striving to attract foreign investment, we have investors who are interested in Egypt. So let's work in this area "It's fitting that Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also accompanied the Commission President.
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There are also plans in Italy to build a line for green electricity from Egypt in the Mediterranean.
According to Handelsblatt, the cable will run from West Sohag, Egypt, to Dolo near Venice.
Just like “Gregy”, the “Green Vein” cable is said to have a capacity of three gigawatts.
According to Handelsblatt
, this could
cover up to five percent of Italy's peak electricity needs.
In the target region near Venice there is also the appropriate infrastructure and many companies that have high energy requirements.
Power lines from Egypt to Italy are still a thing of the future
However, the implementation of the project is taking even longer than the power line to Greece.
The preparatory phase, which took three years including an environmental assessment, was completed at the end of 2023, Tajdeddine Seif, chairman of the K&K Group, reported to the
Interfax
agency .
The investment company from the United Arab Emirates is involved in “Green Vein” together with the Italian engineering firm Cesi, the cable manufacturer Prysmian and Siemens Energy.
According to Handelsblatt, there is still no concrete information about the costs of the Italian project.
A schedule is not yet available either.
However, according to the K&K boss, millions of dollars have already been invested in the preparation.
The EU is entering into energy partnerships with North African countries in the fight against climate change
However, the idea of generating green electricity and hydrogen in North Africa and bringing it to Europe is not new.
As early as 2009, a solar power plant was built in Morocco as part of the Desertec project, with the participation of Siemens, Eon and Deutsche Bank, among others.
However, things came to a standstill in 2014.
However, ahead of the Cop27 2022 global climate conference, the EU has entered into a partnership with Morocco.
The aim is deeper cooperation on the common goals of becoming low-emission and climate-resilient economies.
Both states want to promote sustainable, environmentally friendly projects, which for the EU also means investments in Moroccan energy projects.
Egypt is not the only partner.
(ms)