According to a company announcement, the EuroAsia InterConnector officially awarded the studies to two Italian companies, CESI S.p.A. and GAS S.r.l, during a ceremony held at the European Parliament Office in Cyprus, last Friday.
The studies are for the technical design, the reconnaissance study for the optimum route and an environmental impact study. All of them are expected to be complete during 2016.
The cable will have the capacity to transmit 2,000 MW of energy along its east-west cable, selling Israel Energy Corporation’s excess electricity production to Cyprus or any other buyer further west.
The 1,518km-long subsea cable will connect Israel and Cyprus to southeast and western Europe to satisfy the continent’s need for cheap electricity.
It will connect Israel with Cyprus, Cyprus with Crete, and Crete with the Peloponnese, from where electricity supply can be distributed to Greece or further afield.
Work on the initial 329-kilometer cable link between Israel and Cyprus is expected to begin in 2017 and be completed in 2019. The second phase will connect the Greek island of Crete to Attica in mainland Greece in 2020 and the third and final phase will connect the cable from Cyprus to Crete with a view to full implementation of the ‘electricity highway’ by 2022.
The project is initiated by the DEI-Quantum Energy joint venture, a partnership between DEI, the public power corporation of Greece, and Quantum, operator of hydroelectric and power stations in the Republic of Serbia.
According to Nasos Ktorides, chairman of the joint venture, the project cost – €1.5bn – should be recouped in four years and should earn €17.5bn throughout the life of the cable.
Bank of Cyprus is a junior partner in the project.
The project is included in the revised list of 195 Projects of Common Interest (PCI), issued on November 18 by the European Commission. It offers significant economic and geopolitical benefits to the involved countries and contributes to the EU target for 10% of electricity interconnection between member states.
Source: Cyprus Mail
