Call for north to be linked to EuroAsia connector

The Turkish Cypriot community must demand from the EU the right to get on board the prospective EuroAsia Interconnector project “without political preconditions,” head of the Turkish Cypriot Energy Efficiency Association Gorkem Celik said on Tuesday.

Speaking to the online news site Bugun, Celik also called for the start of infrastructure works that would make the north’s connection to the EuroAsia Interconnector technically feasible. He said Turkey, which has been linked to the European electricity grid since 2010, has the technical know-how to assist in this respect.

“I think we need to be more business-like and claim participation in the EuroAsia Interconnector, which would also mean directly linking the Turkish Cypriot community to the European Interconnection System without paying any money,” Celik said, according to a translation of his comments.

He added: “I think that such a connection, which can be implemented with considerable financial support from the EU, must apply not only for the Greek Cypriot side, but for the whole island and of course the Turkish Cypriot side.”

Celik noted that the two sides on the island have been trading electricity via a netting arrangement – without payments on either side.

Since 2019, the north and the south have been connected via a synchronised interconnector. For example, in 2021 the north received 27 million kWh electricity from the south, and the south in turn received 24 million kWh from the north.

Turkish Cypriot circles worry that interconnection of the Republic of Cyprus to a broader European grid would mean decoupling of the synchronised power systems on the two sides.

Likewise, they argue, once the RoC connects to a broader and more flexible supply of electricity, the rationale of being connected with the north may become redundant.

Whereas ‘green’ electricity import/export across the buffer zone is technically possible, the north lacks an internationally recognised certification for its renewable energy production – such as energy attribute certificates (EACs) which represent a unit of energy produced and the associated environmental attributes.

The EuroAsia Interconnector is a subsea cable which will connect the Cypriot, Greek and Israeli power grids. The project – which has secured EU funding – was inaugurated in Nicosia last week.

The current works will focus on the Cyprus-Crete section of the project. Final construction of the electricity interconnection is expected to be completed by the end of 2027 after the project promoter secured all the relevant permits and binding offers from the world’s leading manufacturers in the energy field: Siemens and Nexans.