The energy ministers of Israel, Cyprus and Greece today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the Cypriot capital Nicosia to lay the subsea Euro-Asia electricity cable. The cable will be laid over a distance of 1,500 kilometers and at a depth of 2,700 meters and will link the electricity grids of the three countries and connect Israel to the European power grid.
The EuroAsia Interconnector will be the world's longest subsea electricity cable with a capacity to conduct 1,000-2,000 MegaWatt.
The cable will have three sections in the Mediterranean: 310 kilometers from Israel to Cyprus, 900 kilometers from Cyprus to Crete and a final 310 kilometers between Crete and Ithaca in Greece. The work should be completed by 2024.
The cost of the project will be about NIS 3 billion, which will be financed by the participating countries and the European Union as a Project of Common Interest (PCI).
During the signing ceremony Israel's Minister of Energy Yuval Steinitz, Cyprus Minister of Energy Natasha Pilides and Greek Minister of Energy Kostas Skrekas pledged to work together to promote the project.
Steinitz said, "This is huge news for Israel's citizens. The Euro-Asia subsea cable will allow us to receive electricity support from the grids on the continent of Europe in times of emergency and most importantly will also support our ability to increase significantly our reliance on electricity production from solar energy, and it will assist us in meeting the solar energy targets that the government has set for 2030."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 8, 2021
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