Amman – In a crisp spring morning at NEPCO’s headquarters, Jordan and Saudi Arabia turned the page on a decade-old vision: a high-voltage lifeline that promises to carry not just electrons but the very promise of regional unity. Ministers and power engineers convened on Tuesday to expedite the long-awaited electricity interconnection project, with the goal of signing three crucial agreements—executive, operational, and commercial—by the end of the year and initiating a commercial exchange by 2029.
“Imagine Riyadh’s solar harvest powering Amman’s evening lights, while Jordan’s winter wind farms fuel Mecca’s pilgrim cities,” mused NEPCO chief Sufyan Batayneh. His metaphor made sense. The desert kingdoms are pooling natural advantages—Saudi’s sprawling solar parks and Jordan’s rugged highland breezes—to balance each other’s peaks and valleys of demand. Beyond the wires lies a potential cost-saving juggernaut: experts estimate that inter-Arab power trading could shave up to 20% off regional generation costs, freeing billions for development.
Co-chairing the session, Amani Azzam of Jordan’s Ministry of Energy recalled the 2020 memorandum of understanding as the project’s launchpad. “Back then it was a handshake across maps. Today it’s tangible tower foundations and substation blueprints,” she said. Jordan, which basks in over 330 sunny days a year, plans to feed excess capacity southward during summer peaks while tapping Saudi’s oil-powered baseload when colder months dip demand below desert thresholds.
But the agreement isn’t just about kilowatts. Analysts see the interconnection as the spark for a true Arab electricity market—an ambition first sketched in 2001 under the Arab Common Market for Electricity. If successful, the project could grow to link the Levant’s grids with North Africa and the Gulf, letting renewable energy flow from Morocco’s Atlantic coast to Iraq’s Mesopotamian plains.
Logistically, hundreds of kilometers of new transmission lines will snake through mountains and valleys—inviting both engineering marvels and environmental scrutiny. “We’re designing corridors that minimize ecological impact,” explained Saudi’s delegation head, pointing to planned wildlife overpasses for desert gazelles.
As negotiations accelerate, both sides are betting that by 2029, when the interconnection goes live, it will stand as more than metal and cables—a testament to cooperation, climate resilience, and a region united by shared currents of progress
