Cross-Border Power Line: Can Syria Become a Transit Hub?

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Turkish discussions on establishing an electricity transmission line connecting Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria have opened the door to a potential regional role for Syria in electricity transmission, along with possible financial revenues and opportunities to purchase electricity.

However, these ambitions face a major obstacle: Syria’s damaged electricity grid, which, according to technical assessments, cannot be synchronously interconnected with neighboring countries’ grids until it is rehabilitated.

Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar announced that his country is holding discussions on a project to establish an electricity interconnection and transmission line linking Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria, with the aim of strengthening regional cooperation and addressing uncertainty in global energy markets.

While Syria’s geographical location could allow it to become an electricity transit corridor between Turkey, Jordan, and the Gulf countries, the technical condition of its grid raises questions about its ability to fulfill this role and the options available before transmission lines are repaired and the electricity system is rehabilitated.

Electrical and energy engineering consultant Nidal Qarmousha told Enab Baladi that Syria’s electricity grid is currently unprepared to transmit electricity between countries, such as from Jordan to Turkey, because of extensive damage sustained by 400-kilovolt high-voltage transmission lines during the years of war.

Source: Wikipedia