Filenews 31 July 2023 - by Chrysanthos Manoli
With a joint decision of the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority (CERA) and the Energy Regulatory Authority of Greece (RAE), which is published today in the Official Gazette of the Republic, the new increased budget of EuroAsia Interconnector for the Cyprus-Crete electricity interconnection project is accepted.
Initially, the budget approved in 2017 by CERA and RAE concerned an amount of €1.57 billion, while the new budget concerns an amount of €1.94 billion.
The European Union has decided to provide €657 million through a grant from the Connecting Europe Facility. The Cypriot state will provide an additional EUR 100 million from the Recovery Fund.
The remaining costs must be financed with funds secured by EuroAsia Interconnector.
It has already applied to the European Investment Bank for a loan of around EUR 580 million, but no decision has yet been taken by the bank.
The private company has asked the government to guarantee the granting of a loan, but the government's decision will be taken once the viability of the project and its strategic importance for Cyprus are confirmed through a study.
Together with the recognition of the additional capital costs, CERA and RAE confirm with today's decision the already agreed cross-border cost sharing, namely that 37% of the implementation costs are allocated to Greece and 63% to Cyprus, not counting the amounts from the aforementioned grants.
As the project has been declared a Project of Common Interest, it will be regulated by the two regulatory authorities and the costs attributable to Cyprus will be recoverable by the company, through subscriptions of energy consumers, which will be activated by decision of CERA at a later stage.
