Julien Hueber, the new CEO of Nexans, the company manufacturing the cable for the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI), has underlined that the project is still going on and that there is “no Plan B” for the cable built so far.
The Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) is a subsea cable designed to link the electricity grids of Cyprus and Greece.
In a 23 October conference call with analysts discussing the company’s Q3 earnings, Nexans CEO Julien Hueber said, “Regarding the GSI project, as I said, the project is ongoing. Extremely good relationship and collaborative work with IPTO, our customer. For us, there is no plan B."
“There is only one plan A, which is keep going and working with our customer to deliver this project,” he continued.
IPTO is Greece's Independent Power Transmission Operator.
According to the full transcript of the conference call as posted on the website Investing.com, Hueber confirmed that, to date, Nexans have received €250 million in payments in different tranches.
In a Q&A session with analysts, the CEO said the company is “working very closely with Ipto in a very, let’s say, collaborative way.”
He added, “We are in discussion at this moment in terms of the next steps of this project, and the milestone of payment is part of it. I cannot disclose anything, but that’s, of course, as you can imagine, a part of our discussion. There is also ongoing discussion on the political side as well regarding the GSI.”
Responding to a journalist’s remark that the Greece-Cyprus interconnector might be cancelled, Hueber said, “First of all, the project is not canceled. We are still working on it. There are extremely close discussions on the relationship with our customers. There are ongoing discussions on the political side and supported by the European Commission.
“I mean, we do not see that as a risk. We’ll come back on that, of course, when we’ll have some more, let’s say, information to share. This project is not canceled so far.”
In the same conference call, Vincent Dessale, Senior Executive at Nexans, noted that “the amount of this project is €1.4 billion” – alluding to the cost of the cable itself. Of this, the company has so far received €250 million from IPTO.
Also read: Greece–Cyprus close to partial agreement on GSI interconnection
Also read: EU Commission says discussion on GSI with Jorgensen, Cypriot and Greek Ministers was "productive"
Also read: Cyprus and Greece reaffirm cooperation on GSI interconnection in call with EU Commissioner
