Cyprus and Israel seek to establish an electricity link via an underwater cable that would eliminate their respective energy isolation, said a Cypriot official.
The Minister of Energy, George Papanastasiou, said that Israel was particularly eager to ensure that he can rely on Cypriot energy reserves from conventional and renewable sources to feed the country if the need arises.
Pananastasiou told the AP that Cyprus soon would have the ability to generate about four gigawatts of electricity from fossil fuels as well as solar and wind sources, while consuming only 0.5 GW.
Wind turbines and photovoltaics generate 1 GW of electricity, but licenses have been issued for the construction of new wind and solar energy parks with a capacity of 2.8 GW.
Conventional fuels generate 1.4 GW.
The shared engagement for an electric cable link was confirmed on Sunday when the Cypriot President Nikos Christudoulides had interviews with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a day visit to Israel and Ramallah in the West Bank.
The two leaders said that the electrical connection would present the geographic location of the two countries as natural walkways between Europe and the Middle East.
Papanastasiou said that in this geographical advantage, the two leaders have agreed to continue the potential advantages of establishing a commercial, energy corridor and digital connectivity between India, the Middle East and Europe.
The corridor, known as the Economic Corridor of Est-Europe (IMEC), was unveiled at the G20 summit in the main rich and global developing countries in India in 2023.
Netanyahu said that he had recently talked to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi of the IMEC, who, according to him, was “a very revolutionary and transformer development that we want to set up”.
In addition, an electric cable project to connect Greece to Cyprus is already underway.
The interconnection (GS) of 1.94 billion euros Great Seas is funded in part by the European Union with a price of 800 million euros.
Progress has been slowed down due to Turkish objections on the cable course.
Turkey affirms that the project cannot continue without its consent because the cable would pass into the waters which it claims to be from its jurisdiction.
