Its construction has begun cable section of its first leg Greece-Cyprus-Israel interconnectionthat is, of the interconnection Crete-Cyprusas the Nexans company received from ADMIE, the new implementing body of the project, the order to “reserve” the necessary slot for the production of the cables and to start the relevant procedures.

This is the first milestone in the contract signed last July and marks the start of work on the flagship project before the expiry of 2023 and shortly after ADMIE took over the role of project promoter, through the special purpose company Great Sea Interconnector.

This development – where demonstrates the will of ADMIE to accelerate the implementation of the project – follows the completion of the Asset Purchase Agreement with the previous project promoter, the transfer to ADMIE of the two contracts of the contractors (Nexans, Siemens), as well as the transfer of the grant agreement amounting to €657 million from CINEA (European Union Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency).

This was followed by the disbursement by CINEA of an advance payment of EUR 55 million from the EUR 657 million fund, the “First Notice to Proceed” to Nexans, i.e. the order to start the construction work for the cable, and then the payment of first installment to the company. At the same time, the important FID study by Siemens, contractor of the Conversion Station in Cyprus, is being accelerated, which will determine details of the equipment to be installed in the project.

At the same time, the processes for the entry of new investors into the share capital of Great Sea Interconnection are in progress, as an agreement has been signed with the Israeli fund Aluma and MoU between ADMIE, the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry of Cyprus and the TAQA fund from United Arab Emirates. In addition to these, investment funds from the US and other countries have recently approached ADMIE and have expressed interest in participating in the project

Discussions are also ongoing with the European Investment Bank and commercial banks for the lending arm. ADMIE is also in constant communication with the regulatory authorities in Cyprus and Israel, as the project matures at a rapid pace at all levels, construction, financing and regulatory.