Standard Chartered Bank announced $566.4 million in financing, in cooperation with the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, for Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) to facilitate a Saudi-Egypt electricity interconnection project.
The 14-year financing will be guaranteed by the Swedish Export Credit Agency (EKN) and funded by the Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK). The landmark facility is structured on the Islamic concept of Commodity Murabaha.
In October of last year, the project to connect the two countries was awarded to three alliances of international and local companies, with a capacity of 3,000 megawatts.
Last August, SEC agreed to finance part of the electricity interconnection project between Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The project consists of the construction of three high-voltage substations, the East Madinah Station, the Tabuk Station in the Kingdom, and the Badr Station in East Cairo, linked by overhead transmission lines with a length of about 1,350 m and marine cables in the Gulf of Aqaba with a distance of 22 km.
The electricity interconnection project between the two countries is considered the first of its kind on a large scale for high-voltage DC power in the Middle East and North Africa region.
The interconnection project is expected to be completed by 2026 and will support energy flow in multiple directions, from Badr City in Egypt to Madinah through Tabuk in Saudi Arabia.
