GCC shows the way on sharing power

East of Desertec's planned site for cross-border renewable energy, the groundwork is already in place for sharing clean power between nations.

Just east of Desertec's proposed site for a cross-border renewable energy network, the groundwork is already in place for sharing clean power between nations.

In April officials from the GCC Interconnection Grid flipped the switch on an electricity network connecting the UAE to other Gulf states. A connection to Oman, the last nation, is scheduled to arrive in the next two years.

The grid allows countries to share power that is today generated by burning oil and gas. In the future, as announced solar and wind power projects come online, the GCC can use that electricity to cover peak demand.

"That is enabling them to potentially not just export oil and gas, like they have been doing for decades, but to export electricity to other countries or even Europe," says Hannes Reinisch, a consultant at Deloitte, which is one of the backers of the Desertec initiative. "You just need to balance the supply-and-demand peaks and troughs by being able to shift it like any other product."

One of the criticisms of renewable energy is that sunlight and high winds are not available 24 hours a day, limiting how much solar or wind farms can contribute to steady energy supply.

But the difference between peak sunlight hours in Egypt compared with the UAE, for example, could allow each nation to feed the other when it most needs power.

The first link outside the GCC is likely to come through Saudi Arabia, which is working with Egypt on an estimated US$1.5 billion (Dh5.51bn) high-voltage line between the two nations. The kingdom has also floated the idea of connecting its power grid to Europe in the next decade.