Sabotage of the Crete-Attica electricity interconnection project implemented by ADMIE’s subsidiary “Ariadni Interconnection” with the aim of stopping the implementation of the project, ADMIE identified.

According to the information from the Administrator the sabotage located in plant mechanical equipment of the underground part of the cable, north of BOAK and the goal was not to steal materialsbut the interruption of work on the electrical interconnection.

A complaint has already been filed by the contractor with the relevant Police Department. The Administrator cooperates with the Greek Police to identify the perpetrators. The Police informed that they will immediately proceed with the guarding of the specific point of the project where the vehicle and equipment are located. ADMIE is in parallel coordinating with the Region of Crete and the municipal authorities to deal with the situation.

According to the information from ADMIE at this stage, the size of the delay that the event in question will bring to the completion of the project is being examined, “which jeopardizes not only the implementation schedule of a critical infrastructure for Crete, but also – even worse – the health and safety of project workers, raising and risk of equipment destruction”.

With the current schedule, the electric interconnection of Crete-Attica is expected to be completed constructionally at the end of the year and to enter commercial operation within 2025.

It is also pointed out that this is the largest and most complex electricity transmission project in Greece, which, in combination with the first Peloponnese-Crete interconnection (which will operate continuously from the summer of 2021), will remove the energy isolation of Crete, ensuring security supply of the island, without the use of polluting conventional units. In this way, the cost of electricity production in Crete will be significantly reduced, with immediate benefits (reduction of utility bills) for all consumers, who will reach 1 billion euros annually in 2030.