JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia and Iraq signed the executive report on the principles of the electricity interconnection agreement between the two countries implementing the memorandum of understanding signed at the beginning of 2022. 

The electrical interconnection will link from Arar in northern Saudi Arabia to Yusufiya near Baghdad and have a capacity of 1,000 megawatts and a voltage of 400 kilovolts, with a length of 435 km. 

The event was attended by Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman, who praised the role of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in accelerating the electricity connection with Iraq, which comes as confirmation of the continuous cooperation in all fields.

The minister indicated that the deal also expresses both countries' desire to consolidate economic relations between them to achieve the aspirations of their leadership and people and ensure the speedy implementation of the project.

He explained that the completion of this project comes within the framework of Vision 2030 and its executive programs, which focuses on investing in the Kingdom's strategic location.

The project will contribute to supporting the reliability of the electrical networks in the two countries, achieving economic savings, supporting the integration of the networks into renewable energy, and achieving optimal investments in electricity generation projects.

The project also constitutes a step to establish a regional market for electricity trade and support the two countries' participation.

This is in addition, the Gulf Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) signed the contract between its network and the electricity grid of southern Iraq on the sidelines of the Jeddah Security and Development Summit, hosted by Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

The contract includes the authority's construction of lines from its substation in Kuwait to the Al-Faw station in southern Iraq to supply it with about 500 megawatts of energy from the Gulf countries.

Construction work will take about 24 months with a total transmission capacity of 1,800 megawatts.