The Greece-Cyprus electricity interconnection project is on track as outstanding issues appear to have been finalised. According to sources, the Ministry of Environment and Energy is about to submit an amendment to Parliament for the equitable distribution of geopolitical risk to consumers in both countries.
The amendment was scheduled to be submitted to Parliament, according to competent sources, at the end of Tuesday or in the early hours of Wednesday.
The Greek side decided to act in this regard a few days ago, as the regulation was amended at the request of the Cypriot side, making Cypriot consumers the main beneficiaries with a ratio of 63% and Greek consumers with 37%.
It should be noted that the regulation concerns the inevitable scenario that the project is blocked due to force majeure and through no fault of the implementing body (IPTO) and therefore the latter is able to recover the costs it has paid so far. Based on the new agreement, once it receives the relevant approval from the Greek parliament, IPTO will proceed with a 50%-50% distribution.
The bad scenario
Should things go wrong and the project be blocked, the Greek state will subsidize the additional cost for Greek consumers. The government chose to bring the issue to parliament because it believes that its geopolitical importance requires parliamentary approval.
According to government sources, Athens wants to convey the message that it is not afraid of risk, but also that it has a very strong position on international law.
Based on the latest developments, competent sources have reported that IPTO will give the “Final Notice to Proceed” to Nexans in good time so as not to activate the clause that provides for an additional burden of 1 million euros to the project for the time it remains in suspension and is not executed.