The promotion of energy interconnections between Eastern Mediterranean countries with the European Union will be discussed in the meeting of Energy Ministers of Greece, Cyprus and Israel Energy that will be held on Wednesday in Athens, with Greece claiming to play the role of energy bridge between the two sides.
The meeting will be attended by Environment and Energy Minister Panos Skourletis, Cypriot Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis and Israel’s Infrastructure, Energy and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz.
Among the issues to be discussed are the electrical interconnection between Cyprus and the EU through Greece and the construction of an underwater gas pipeline from the SE Mediterranean to Greece and then to Italy. This is the EuroAsiaInterconnector cable and East Med conduit that have been included in the list of common interest projects (Projects of Common Interest, PCI) of the European Commission.
Crete is an intermediate station in both projects while the first technical studies carried out have showed that the work is feasible from a manufacturing point of view. Specifically, the gas pipeline is designed to transport up to 16 billion cubic meters of gas annually from the eastern Mediterranean resources to Italy via Greece. The work includes a 200 km offshore pipeline from the Levantine Basin to Cyprus, a 700 km offshore pipeline from Cyprus to Crete, a 400 km underwater pipeline from Crete to the Peloponnese and a 600 km onshore pipeline from mainland Greece to the point of interconnection with the Poseidon pipeline in Thesprotia.
Correspondingly, the electrical interconnection Israel – Cyprus – Greece has been planned with Korakia, in Crete, as an intermediate station and a submarine cable will connect it with Attica region. The project is also linked with Crete’s electrical interconnection promoted by ADMIE.