NEW DELHI: Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman visited New Delhi on a day-long visit on Friday to prepare the ground for Saudi Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's trip to India next month.
The coast of Gujarat could very soon link up to the Middle East with deep-sea cable. The aim is to create a renewable energy grid between India and Saudi Arabia. Thus ushering in an era of cross-country energy diplomacy. This was on the agenda of discussion when Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman visited New Delhi.
Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman was in India on October 21 for a day-long visit aimed to prepare the ground ahead of Saudi Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's trip to India on the 14th of next month.
The discussion will be aimed at the creation of undersea power cables to form an energy grid between Southeast Asia and Gulf Counties. The commercial viability of such a project is also likely to be discussed.
The Saudi Ambassador to India had invited leading conglomerates of the country for their views on projects. These include the Tata Group, Reliance Industries Ltd, JSW, Sterlite Power, and Adani among others. India will be the first stop for the crown prince on a trip which includes Indonesia, South Korea and Japan.
A feasibility study regarding any such project was made a few years back. This study put the distance between the Gujarat coast of India to the Emirate of Fujariah at 1600 kilometres. However, the distance can be reduced to 1200 with a maximum depth of 3.5 kilometres if passes through Oman. According to a report, 3GW undersea project would involve an expenditure of around $5 billion. This includes the cost of cables (copper or aluminium), installation ships and terminals at two ends. Also, any project below 10GW would not be worth the effort and expenditure to make it sustainable.
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