Crucial week for power linkup
Bringing an end to the summer impasse, the Cypriot government is expected to approve Monday’s agreement of all parties involved in the planned power interconnection linking Greece with Cyprus at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Monday’s teleconference involving the governments of Greece and Cyprus, the regulatory authorities of the two countries, the implementing authority, Greece’s grid manager ADMIE, and the General Directorate of Energy of the European Union, broke the deadlock and will likely to lead to a solution.
Nicosia has pledged that on Wednesday it will confirm that it will finance part of the costs of the construction period of the project with the amount of 25 million euros per year and a total of €125 million over five years, to ease the burden on consumers.
This amount corresponds to part of ADMIE’s costs of the construction period, while the rest will be recovered during its operation phase, as accepted by the Greek side in yet another attempt to facilitate Cyprus and save the project.
In the same context, the Greek side agreed not to review the decision of the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority (CERA) regarding the issue of geopolitical risk, an issue that was an important point of friction with ADMIE for a long time.
CERA’s 2023 decision states that in the event that external factors arise which make the completion of the project impossible, the costs incurred up to that moment may be recovered, with ADMIE claiming to remove the “may” clarifying that they will be recovered.
After the Cypriot cabinet’s decision, CERA will have until Friday to present two decisions that will ensure the viability of the project, so that ADMIE can attract investors for its full financing. The first will revise its previous decision and incorporate Monday’s agreement, and the second will provide for a number of regulatory details. This agreement in principle also prevented the cessation of work by France’s Nexans, which, as it had notified ADMIE, it would have implemented from Monday.
CERA still holds the key to developments, with all sides waiting until Friday when things become clear.
