India and Saudi Arabia advance talks on cross-border power grid link

India and Saudi Arabia are advancing discussions on connecting their electricity networks, with Riyadh seeking Indian engineering expertise to integrate renewable power and meet surging electricity demand from data centres.

The initiative gathered pace during a bilateral review between India’s Power Secretary Pankaj Agarwal and Saudi Arabia’s Assistant Minister of Energy for Electricity Affairs, Nasser Al-Qahtani. The two officials reviewed early work on an undersea and overland power interconnection designed to link the power grids of the subcontinent and the Gulf, allowing both nations to trade surplus electricity across time zones.

Saudi officials reached out to India for technical collaboration on handling large-scale renewable generation, modernising regulatory grid codes, and managing the load pressures created by digital infrastructure, the Ministry of Power said.

Why Saudi Arabia is looking to India’s grid

India operates one of the world's largest synchronised electrical grids, running extensive extra-high-voltage corridors capable of moving massive loads across thousands of kilometres. Riyadh wants to tap into that operational experience as it ramps up its own solar and wind capacity.

Extra-high-voltage systems operate at 220 kilovolts (kV) and above. They allow utilities to transmit large blocks of electricity across long distances while keeping transmission losses minimal, making them indispensable for linking remote solar plants to industrial hubs and future cross-sea interconnections.

During the discussions, Saudi officials highlighted the practical operational problems of feeding intermittent green energy into national distribution networks without risking destabilisation. As power systems shift from predictable fossil generation to variable solar and wind, operational rules known as grid codes must be overhauled. Grid codes set the mandatory technical parameters that every power plant and transmission utility must meet before connecting to the network, and the two delegations agreed to align their regulatory approaches.

Powering data centres across borders

The talks also focused on the sharp jump in electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence and data centres. Both India and the Gulf states are investing heavily in hyperscale digital infrastructure, which requires constant baseload electricity.

Linking their grids would allow both countries to take advantage of time-zone differences and divergent peak demand cycles. Solar power generated in western India during afternoon peaks can help feed Gulf consumption as their working day accelerates, while excess Middle Eastern generation can flow eastward during Indian evening peaks.

The Ministry of Power confirmed that technical teams will maintain formal consultations to finalise the operational contours of the interconnection and expand collaboration into broader power infrastructure programmes.