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Saudi Arabia and UAE set to import electricity from India

By Pramod Kumar
The 1,700 km subsea cable to Saudi Arabia will cost $5.5bn, whereas the 1,400 km cable to the UAE will cost $5.1bn Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
The 1,700 km subsea cable to Saudi Arabia will cost $5.5bn, whereas the 1,400 km cable to the UAE will cost $5.1bn

Saudi Arabia and the UAE will reportedly import electricity through undersea cables from India.

The 1,700km subsea cable to Saudi Arabia will cost INR470 billion ($5.5 billion), whereas the 1,400km cable to the UAE will cost INR435 billion, India’s power minister Manohar Lal Khattar said.

New Delhi will export 2 gigawatts (GW) each to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, he said.

No details were given on when the project will start.

Last year, the Indian government-backed PowerGrid announced plans to set up an undersea interconnection with Middle Eastern countries worth INR400 billion.

The company was holding discussions with Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to set up an interconnection, the state-run Press Trust of India news agency reported, quoting chairman and managing director RK Tyagi.

The project will need six years to complete with a high-voltage direct current cable going from the seabed, he said.

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