Last week, the Egyptian government, represented by the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), signed a milestone agreement with Jan De Nul Group to start the study for the construction of an undersea export cable between Egypt and Europe.
In late September, the Egyptian government reaffirmed its plans to build an undersea electricity cable connecting Egypt with Europe, so that electricity from Egyptian solar and wind installations can be delivered to the wider European energy market.
The interconnector will transport more than 2 gigawatts of solar and wind power from Egypt to Europe via an undersea power cable of about 1,000 km long. The current longest interconnector cable between Denmark and Britain measures 765km. To make it even more challenging, water depths along the cable track run up to 3,000m.
Jan De Nul Group will now carry out a financial and technical study with the ultimate intention of participating in the development of the export project. The study covers project financing, the production of green power, the installation and production of transmission systems such as cables, up to finding partners to connect to the existing grids in Europe.
The start of the actual project execution is scheduled for 2027.
On 2 October 2023, Jan De Nul Group ordered a new cable-laying vessel named Fleeming Jenkin. This vessel will have a cable transportation capacity of 28,000 tonnes, twice the capacity of any other cable-laying vessel currently available on the market. The vessel is especially designed to install longer and heavier cables in ultra-deep waters of up to 3,000 metres.