New development on EuroAsia will make completion easier says minister

Energy Minister George Papanastasiou praised on Saturday the development surrounding EuroAsia Interconnector that has seen Greece’s Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) appointed as the implementation body and project promoter.

Speaking to the state broadcaster, the minister said the project will cost €1.9 billion, of which €757 million will be funded by the EU Commission and the Recovery and Resilience Fund.

The remaining amount will come from private investors, which will be easier to find now that the IPTO has taken over, Papanastasiou highlighted.

On Friday, the IPTO said it informed the EU Commission, governments and authorities of Cyprus, Greece and Israel, of its agreement with EuroAsia Interconnector Limited.

IPTO described the development would ensure the project’s “technical and financial adequacy”, which would “lay the foundations for its timely completion”.

Rumours of EuroAsia’s financial woes were circulating for months, until in July, the energy minister confirmed the project’s costs had jumped 23 per cent.

The EuroAsia Interconnector has been labelled an EU “electricity highway”, interconnecting Europe with Asia.

The operator added that it has many years of experience and strong know-how in the implementation of projects of high technical complexity, such as the HVDC technology Attica-Crete interconnection, “which is in a mature phase of construction with a completion horizon of 2024”.

EuroAsia Interconnector Ltd and IPTO will work closely together to ensure a smooth and rapid transition to the new implementation body, “as required by the schedule and expected by the governments and the European Commission”, the announcement added.