The Egyptian government has announced that it is exploring the possibility of exporting some of its renewable energy to Iraq. For this, the government would have to construct new power lines to boost the Iraqi grid through Jordan. Further, Egypt will first have to increase the capacity of the electricity line that links it to Jordan. Currently, the submarine cable is 13 km in length and has a power rating of 400 kV. It crosses the Gulf of Aqaba, with an exchange capacity of 550 MW.
Owing to a number of wind and solar megaprojects, Egypt is one of the main renewable energy-producing countries in North Africa and the Middle East region. The current move reflects the desire of the Egyptian government to accelerate the export of its electricity in the sub-region, to make its infrastructures profitable.
Egypt announced that it has begun studying the proposed interconnection project. Since 1999, Egypt has had an electricity connection with Jordan, with which it shares an inlet in the Gulf of Aqaba. As a neighbouring country of Iraq, Jordan is expected to transit electricity to Baghdad.
Egypt currently has an installed solar photovoltaic capacity of 1,700 MW and 1,465 MW for wind power. But this capacity should increase further in the coming years with upcoming projects in Upper Egypt for solar and in the Gulf of Suez for wind. To make its production profitable, part of the electricity will be exported to Sudan, Libya, Jordan, and soon Iraq. The possibility of connections with Cyprus and Greece is currently being discussed in Egypt.