Ministers to meet next week on Great Sea Interconnector

The Minister of Finance Makis Keravnos and the Minister of Energy George Papanastasiou will have a meeting early next week, during which it will be decided, according to information obtained by CNA, whether or not the Republic of Cyprus will participate and with what amount in the Great Sea Interconnector (formerly EuroAsia Interconnector) project, which concerns the electrical interconnection, in the first phase, between Cyprus and Crete and, in the second phase, with Israel.

Once a decision is taken at the ministers’ meeting, the Energy Minister will, according to the same sources, submit a proposal to the Cabinet meeting, to be held under the President of the Republic next week, for approval.

It is noted that a study conducted by an international firm on the Great Sea Interconnector was presented last Tuesday, January 23, which positively assesses the whole project, thus strengthening the possibility of the Republic of Cyprus participating in it.

The evaluation showed that the Great Sea Interconnector will have "a high value for the electricity market of Cyprus and at the same time a very high geopolitical value", since Cyprus will be in the middle of the interconnection of the national electricity grids of Israel and Greece and, by extension, of Europe.

As the Energy Minister had earlier told CNA, after the presentation of the study, "the decision of the Republic of Cyprus to participate or not in the whole project will be taken immediately" and then the Independent Power Transmission Operator (ADMIE), the project's implementing body, will be informed accordingly.

He also said that the timeframe set by the Republic of Cyprus to take its decision is until January 31, 2024.

Papanastasiou explained that ADMIE will create a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and then a share capital issue will follow, for which there will be interest for participation.

The Republic of Cyprus is expected to participate in the share capital with €100 million included as a loan through the Recovery and Resilience Plan.

At the same time, interest to invest in the Great Sea Interconnector project was also expressed by the United Arab Emirates Investment Fund (TAQA) during a meeting held on Friday morning between the TAQA’s Managing Director Jasim Husain Thabet, members of the investment fund and the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, at the Presidential Palace.

The Great Sea Interconnector foresees the interconnection of the national electricity transmission networks of Cyprus, Israel and Greece (via Crete), with a capacity of 2,000 MW.