Final text of EuroAsia interconnector project expected next week 

A preliminary version of the EuroAsia Interconnector electricity interconnection project has been sent to the energy ministry and the final text of the study will be sent next week, Energy Minister George Papanastasiou said on Thursday.

In statements to the Cyprus News Agency, he said he had not yet studied the initial draft but “we have asked for it to be completed so that it can be officially presented to us.”

“Because of the delay we had at the beginning, which was due to the fact that we had to go through a public bidding process to conduct a study that is legal, we will have the final draft of the study at the end of November,” he added.

Papanastasiou explained the purpose behind the study was to evaluate the entirety of the project on four fronts and allow Cyprus to make a political decision on whether it will participate in the EuroAsia Interconnector project or not.

He said the decision was likely to be made in December.

According to the minister, the four points of the study are the economic viability of the project, its comparison with alternatives such as electricity storage on the Cypriot grid, its geostrategic value and due diligence on the project.

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

Last month, the Cypriot company behind the subsea power cable linking Greece, Israel and Cyprus quit the project entirely.

Greece’s Independent Power Transmission Operator had taken over from the Cypriot company EuroAsia Interconnector Ltd as the project promoter.

Earlier this month, the European Investment Bank (EIB) specified it is in the process of formulating a decision on the EuroAsia Interconnector, as it is assessing the project’s funding.

The comments by the EIB’s president were understood to leave the possibility of funding open, after reports in August said the EIB had denied EuroAsia Interconnector a €2 billion loan.