Riyadh – Mubasher: Hitachi ABB Power Grids has been awarded a three-year agreement by Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) to optimise the power infrastructure, paving the way for the connection between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

GCCIA, which owns and operates the GCC interconnection linking the power systems of all six countries, will be the first customer of Hitachi ABB's RelCare service, a new reliability-based service solution, according to a statement on Sunday.

The solution will allow GCCIA to remotely monitor the maintenance of all substations across the six countries as well as optimising the operational performance and improving the reliability of their network system.

“The RelCare solution also increases safety due to the reduction of site-visits required, whether that be a transmission or distribution substation, a connection substation for a renewable plant, datacenters, industries or a smart mobility charging station. A decrease in site visits boosts operator productivity and reduces exposure to hazards,” Country Managing Director of Egypt and North Africa, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, Mohamed Hosseiny, said.

The agreement will cover eight large 400 kilovolt (kV) substations that comprise over 3,000 assets, featuring 30 different asset types.

“Optimising operations and the maintenance of our assets is critical to the quality of the Gulf region’s power network, so this digital maintenance agreement and the access to world-class expertise will be hugely beneficial,” CEO of GCCIA, Ahmed Al Ebrahim, noted.