Commercial and geopolitical interests
A battle to transfer cheap and clean electricity from Egypt wind and solar-rich renewables to Greece and Europe appears to be underway.
A competition between two Pharaonic electrical interconnection projects – two cables – directed in succession by two commercial lines.
The European thirst for green and low-cost energy is great, after the crisis and the transition from Russian fossil fuels.
Two companies with Greek interests are vying for who will provide much-needed cheap electricity with their multi-gigawatt, one-billion-euro investment proposals. Electricity will be generated from photovoltaic and wind power plants in Egypt. The African country is developing more than 60 gigawatts of renewable energy sources.
Quantities of electricity will be transported via electrical interconnection by submarine to Greece. And then, through the national electricity transmission system, you will cross the border into the Balkans and other European countries.
This battle also takes on geopolitical dimensions, as one of the two institutional planners claims to have secured the support of the American factor. At the same time, cable routes are involved in the sensitive maritime area between Egypt, Libya and Crete.But let’s take things in order.
The relationship between Greece and Egypt
In June 2021 in Cairo, the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, agreed to strengthen electrical interconnection between the two countries.
In October 2021, the two ministers concerned, Kostas Skrekas and Mohamed Sakr, signed a memorandum of cooperation on the project, which both ADMIE and EETC Electricity Transmission Systems Administrators committed to design and implement.
In the same month, the Kopelouzou Group announced that it had submitted an application to be included in the Ten-Year Development Plan of European Electricity Grids for the Greece-Egypt Electricity Interconnection Project (GREGY). This process begins its inclusion in the sixth list of projects of common interest (PCI) of the European Union.
Greg Project
In March 2022, the founder of the Kopelouzos Group, Dimitris Kopelouzos, officially presented all the details of GREGY. A project that has been planned since 2008. At the same time, the government and ADMIE knew that it would also be the executing agency for the electrical interconnection between Egypt and Greece.
The 3 GW GREGY Group will transmit electricity from the 9.5 GW wind and solar farms that the Kopelouzou Group is developing in Egypt. The investment exceeds 3500 million. euro. The next route is 954 km long and starts from Sallum and reaches North Macri Attica. This route avoids geopolitically sensitive marine areas.
On December 15, the Kopelouzou Group submitted an application for the project to be included in the sixth list of PCI projects, accompanied by letters of support from the Greek and Bulgarian Ministries of Energy and ADMIE.
To project GAP
In the past two weeks, the Greek Eunice Group, which develops green energy technologies, has released a barrage of announcements announcing its decision to go ahead with the Greece-Africa Electricity Interconnection Project (GAP).
Its enforcement body is led by Greek-American Andreas Borgias, a former California State Senator, USA. In the Eunice declaration, he confirmed that from his new position, Borgias will lead initiatives to strengthen the international union, in cooperation with the leaders of Greece, Egypt and the European Union to expedite the completion of the electrical interconnection project between two continents, Europe and Africa.
The project envisions developing a twin cable with a total capacity of 2 gigawatts from the northern coast of Egypt to Athrinoulako in southeastern Crete. It crosses the exclusive economic zone of Greece – Egypt. It has been included in the 10-year plan for European networks and is a candidate for inclusion in the fifth list of projects of common interest (PCI).
Contacted by OT for more details about the project but referred by the company for answers later, Eunice has announced its collaboration with major US construction firm McDermott.
In its related declaration, it was emphasized that “US foreign policy is aligned with Greece’s strategic energy goals and GAP represents a project of national importance to both countries.”
Technical barriers
Specialized sources with whom Orascom Telecom spoke about the two projects said that shielding a cable of this size on the island of Crete faces technical problems.
This is because the island has exhausted its technical limits jointly with the Cyprus-Crete cable.
Other sources indicated that Crete does not need larger amounts of green electricity, as renewable energy sources with a total capacity of 1.8 GW will be developed on the island by 2030. The transmission of electricity to mainland Greece and Europe through the Attica-Crete interconnection has a specific capacity .
And this is not enough for more energy.
