JEDDAH, 28 September 2006 — Saudi Arabia and Egypt yesterday signed an agreement to conduct a consultative study on linking the two countries with a power grid.

Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen described Saudi Arabia and Egypt as the largest power generators in the Middle East with a combined capacity of 50,000 megawatt.

“The main objective of this power grid is to export electricity to one another at peak hours,” the Saudi minister told reporters after attending the signing ceremony.

The agreement will help both countries to make use of extra supplies during peak hours. The peak hours in Saudi Arabia are between one and five in the afternoon while in Egypt it begins at 6 p.m.

“This means part of the energy generated is not used and here comes the significance of the deal,” Hussayen said.

Egyptian Electricity and Energy Minister Dr. Hassan Younus said his country was looking for alternative sources of energy such as winds and solar energy in place of oil and gas. “We have pursuing a program to use nuclear energy for electricity power generation since 1980s but was stopped following the Chernobil nuclear disaster,” he explained.

He also spoke about the economic benefits of the power grid project, adding that precautions would be taken to deal with technical faults in the nextwork.

Speaking about the water crisis in Jeddah, Hussayen said only a few houses were affected. There are 200,000 houses in Jeddah. However, he said 50,000 cubic meters of water would be pumped from the reserves to settle the crisis.

According to experts, Arab countries will require $50 billion for electricity power generation, transportation and distribution by 2010.

The project to link Arab countries with a power grid started in 2001 when Syria and Jordan were connected.

Another project is under way to link the GCC countries with a power grid. In the first phase Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar will be linked. In the second phase the UAE and Oman will be connected and in the third all the six countries will be linked under a project to be completed by 2008.