An agreement, in principle, has reportedly been reached by Greek and Cypriot officials regarding the all-important Greece-Cyprus-Israel undersea power interconnection, known as the Great Sea Interconnector, according to sources on Tuesday morning affiliated with Greece’s Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO or ADMIE).
The agreement reportedly provides for the issuance of two urgent decisions this week by the power regulatory authority of Cyprus (CERA), based on a compromise that includes an investment return of 8.3% for 17 years of the project’s operation and the recovery 125 million euros by the Cypriot side for the first five years of the construction phase.
The same sources said that if the provisions of the draft agreement are implemented, the project – officially called the Great Sea Interconnector become viable. Otherwise, the project is at risk of collapsing.
The same sources cited ongoing contacts with Nexans, the French multinational cable manufacturer, to ensure a continuation of its participation in the project with the expected “policy reversals” on the part of Cypriot authorities.
The Great Sea Interconnection is one of the largest, if not the largest, in Nexan’s—the French-based cable and optical fiber company undertaking the project portfolio. The project spans 1,208 kilometers, of which nearly 900 km involve the Cyprus-Greece connection.
Cyprus had initially committed to contributing €100 million to the project from the Recovery Fund but has since withdrawn, requesting a new cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to be evaluated by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and an independent firm.
