Crete-Attica power linkup set for more delays

Greece’s unilateral decision to remove the Crete-Attica power linkup from the European Union’s list of projects of common interest (PCI) and instead implement it as a national project will lead to a delay of at least six months in the project.

The Greek side thinks that with Greece no longer supporting the Attica-Crete-Cyprus-Israel interconnection PCI, this has ceased to exist, and so Greece’s Regulatory Authority for Energy can now concede this work as a national project. That has also been the thinking of the Independent Power Transmission Operator (ADMIE), which since April 22 has been waiting for RAE’s approval to proceed with its tender for the companies to undertake the construction of the project.

However, RAE is not yet able to declare this a national project, as the European Commission has made it formally known to the president of the regulator, Nikos Boulaxis, that as long as the Crete-Attica linkup remains on the list of the approved PCIs, it cannot be considered a national one, until a new PCI list is drafted: That is not expected before October 2019, and its application will start upon its ratification by the European Parliament.