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By Makis Georgiou
The EuroAsia Interconnector project seems to be on target with its construction schedule to build the subsea high-voltage DC cable connecting energy-thirsty Crete to mainland Greece within three years and hooking up to Cyprus by late 2023.
After securing a lease agreement for the site of the converter station near Kofinou, the owner-operator of the Israel-Cyprus-Greece electricity cable is expected to finalise a similar deal for the second converter station in Korakia, Crete, while it is also going ahead this month with the application to get €350 mln in European grants.
Meanwhile, in its ‘Enhanced Surveillance Report’ for Greece, the European Commission urged the Greek authorities to reconsider plans to go it alone, emphasising that if they reinstate their support to the project, they will benefit from the lower cost and quicker commissioning of the cable, at a time when Crete has to shut down its high-emission power stations or face hefty pollution fines.
The Commission report said that whilst the progress made with the implementation of Crete’s smaller interconnection to the Peloponnese is positive news, the uncertainty about the status of the bigger Attica-Crete interconnection continued.
“The overall project, linking Attica, Crete, Cyprus and Israel, remains on the list of Projects of Common Interest (PCI) for now; thus, being eligible for EU funding (approximately EUR 300 million to be allocated to this project), until the formal adoption of the 4th PCI list,” said the report.
“However, the electricity transmission operator (ADMIE) decided to start implementing the Attica-Crete segment as a ‘national’ competitive project and Greece did not support the inclusion of the project in the 4th PCI list, therefore rendering it ineligible for grants under the ‘Connecting Europe Facility’.
“Continued support by the authorities of the PCI status of the project beyond 2019 could allow taking full advantage of the benefits deriving from the TEN-E Regulation, such as eligibility for applying for grants under the Connecting Europe Facility,” the Commission report concluded.
The application to CEF has a mid-June deadline while the Cyprus regulators and authorities are supporting the PCI-status of the project, making it eligible for favourable funding from CEF. This benefit will also allow the project to secure lower-cost financing from lenders.
If Greece does not revert to the initial plan, with the EuroAsia Interconnector as project promoter of the entire cable system, Athens faces a harsh infringement process for violating all past Commission agreements and jeopardising the energy security for both Cyprus and Crete.
Already, an explosion at one of the outdated power plants in Crete earlier this year left the entire island vulnerable and without power, while the anticipated record tourism arrivals in summer will burden the electricity grid with greater risks of failures and outages.
Furthermore, as the Syriza government suffered major losses in the European parliament as well as local administration elections in May, newly-elected mayors were even more vocal in recent days over ADMIE’s insistence (with Syriza blessing) to build its Crete converter station at Damasta, a historic village that suffered tragic losses during German occupation in WWII.
The mayors of Malevizi and Heraklion are content with the fact that the EuroAsia Interconnector heeded to their demands and moved its converter station to the Korakia location on an isolated beachhead.
This paves the way for the Cyprus-owned project to secure its environmental and other permits in Crete. For its own ‘national’ interconnector, ADMIE seems to have submitted identical plans to those of EuroAsia, which are not acceptable to local authorities, as they accuse the government of a copy-paste tactic without taking into consideration the concerns of local communities.
Earlier this week, a land concession agreement was signed at the Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry in Nicosia for the site of the first HVDC converter station for the EuroAsia Interconnector electricity cable.
The agreement was signed by Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis and the Director General of the Ministry, Dr. Stelios Himonas, and on behalf of the Project Promoter of the European Project of Common Interest (PCI 3.10) the CEO Nasos Ktoridis and the Project Director, George Killas.
The signing of the contract paves the way for the construction works to begin for the EuroAsia Interconnector with a transfer capacity of 2000MW, which is a leading EU PCI project with significant socio-economic benefits worth €10 bln.
The lease agreement for the 74,000 sq.m. plot is for 33 years, with an option to renew for a further 66 years.
The necessary technical and other studies have been completed and the environmental permit has been secured from the Cypriot authorities, and the planning permission is already underway for the construction of the converter station and other works, the company said in an announcement.
The construction cost of the first phase of the project (Cyprus-Crete-Attica) with a capacity to transfer 1000MW amounts to €3.5 bln.
The interconnection between Crete and Attica is expected to be operational in June 2022 and by December 2023 will interconnect Cyprus to the system by completing the Cyprus-Crete-Attica link.
The rival ADMIE project is far behind as it is still in the pre-tendering process and will need at least 8-12 months more than EuroAsia to complete.
