The decision to reach an agreement on whether or not the Republic of Cyprus will participate in the Great Sea Interconnector project by next Thursday and to submit a relevant proposal to the Council of Ministers, which will convene the next day, was reached by the Ministers of Finance and Energy, Trade, and Industry, Makis Keravnos and George Papanastasiou, respectively, in a meeting held on Tuesday afternoon at the Ministry of Finance.
During the meeting, attended by officials from both ministries responsible for the Great Sea Interconnector project (formerly EuroAsia Interconnector), “no decision was made,” according to the same information, and an exchange of additional documents requested by the Ministry of Finance will follow.
According to CNA, there is coordination between the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance to reach an agreement by next Thursday and submit a relevant proposal from the two ministries to the Council of Ministers, which will convene next Friday.
The Great Sea Interconnector involves the interconnection, via submarine cables, of the national electricity transmission networks of Cyprus, Israel, and Greece (via Crete), with a capacity of 2,000 MW.
Initially, the electrical interconnection between Cyprus and Crete will be established, followed by Israel in a later phase.
It is noted that on January 23, an international consultancy presented a study conducted on the Great Sea Interconnector, which evaluates the entire project positively, thus enhancing the possibility of the Republic of Cyprus participating in the project.
The consultancy’s assessment showed that the Great Sea Interconnector will have “great value for the electricity market of Cyprus and at the same time very high geopolitical value” because Cyprus will be at the center of the interconnection between the national electricity networks of Israel and Greece and, by extension, Europe.
The Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) of Greece is the implementing agency for the project.
Interest in investing in the Great Sea Interconnector project was also expressed by the Investment Fund of the United Arab Emirates (TAQA) during a meeting last Friday between the CEO of TAQA, Jasim Husain Thabet, and members of the Fund with the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, at the presidential palace.
It is noted that for the project, with a total cost of around 1.9 billion euros, approximately 1.2 billion euros will be sought from the market (international investors), while 657 million euros will concern EU funding from the Connecting Europe Facility.