EuroAfrica Interconnector is a planned HVDC interconnector and

submarine power cable A submarine power cable is a transmission cable for carrying electric power below the surface of the water.Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, Cypriot, and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

power grid ''Power Grid'' is the English-language version of the second edition of the multiplayer German-style board game ''Funkenschlag'', designed by Friedemann Friese and first released in 2004. ''Power Grid'' was released by Rio Grande Games. I ...

s.EuroAfrica Interconnector
''www.euroafrica-interconnector.com''Electricity Cable Aims to Link Cyprus, Egypt, Greece
Bloomberg, February 8, 2017EuroAfrica 2,000MW cable boosts Egypt-Cyprus ties
Financial Mirror February 8, 2017EEHC, Euro Africa Company sign MoU to conduct a feasibility study to link Egypt, Cyprus, Greece
Daily News Egypt, February 6, 2017 The Interconnector is an energy highway bridging

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. It will have a capacity to transmit 2,000 megawatts of electricity in either direction. Annual transmission capacity will be rated at 17.5 TWh, much more than the annual production at the

Aswan Dam The Aswan Dam, or Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. When it was completed, it was the tallest earthen dam in the world, surpassing the Chatuge D ...

power stations.

President of Egypt The president of the Arab Republic of Egypt () is the executive head of state of Egypt and the de facto appointer of the official head of government under the Egyptian Constitution of 2014. Under the various iterations of the History of the Egypt ...

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil El-Sisi (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has been serving as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. After the 2011 Egyptian revolution and 201 ...

President of Cyprus The president of Cyprus, officially the president of the Republic of Cyprus, is the head of state and the head of government of Cyprus, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Cypriot National Guard. The office was established by the Constitu ...

Nicos Anastasiades Nicos Anastasiades ( ; born 27 September 1946) is a Cypriot politician and businessperson, who served as the seventh president of Cyprus from 2013 to 2023. Previously, he was the leader of Democratic Rally between 1997 and 2013 and served as Me ...

and

Prime Minister of Greece The prime minister of the Hellenic Republic (), usually referred to as the prime minister of Greece (), is the head of government of the Greece, Hellenic Republic and the leader of the Cabinet of Greece, Greek Cabinet. The officeholder's of ...

Kyriakos Mitsotakis Kyriakos Mitsotakis (, ; born 4 March 1968) is a Greek politician currently serving as the prime minister of Greece since July 2019, except for a month between May and June 2023. Mitsotakis has been president of the New Democracy (Greece), New ...

, issued a joint declaration at the conclusion of the 7th Trilateral Summit, held in Cairo on October 8, 2019, in which they expressed their desire to continue strengthening their cooperation in matters of energy.Joint Declaration of the 7th Egypt – Cyprus – Greece Trilateral Summit, Cairo, October 8th, 2019
''www.euroafrica-interconnector.com''
''www.pio.gov.cy'' In particular, the joint declaration by the three leaders stated they recognised the importance of establishing an electrical grid between Egypt, Cyprus and Greece, building on the framework agreement between the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company and the Euro Africa Interconnector Company on 22 May 2019.

Technical data

The EuroAfrica Interconnector will link

with the Cypriot and

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

s through the island of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

, with a

high-voltage direct current A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating current (AC) transmission systems. Most HVDC links use voltages betwe ...

submarine power cable A submarine power cable is a transmission cable for carrying electric power below the surface of the water. Egypt will be connected with Cyprus with a long cable. Cyprus will be connected with Crete with a long cable providing a connection to the pan-European electricity grid. The laying depth of cable will be up to under sea level in some areas between Crete and Cyprus. It will have a capacity to transmit 2,000 megawatts of electricity in either direction. Annual transmission capacity is 17.5 TWh, much more than the annual production of the

. The main components are: *3

HVDC converter station An HVDC converter station (or simply converter station) is a specialised type of substation which forms the terminal equipment for a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line.Arrillaga, Jos; High Voltage Direct Current Transmission, s ...

s of Voltage Source Converter (VSC) type in bipolar arrangements (in Egypt, Cyprus, and Crete) Converter stations convert

direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional electric current, flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor (material), conductor such as a wire, but can also flow throug ...

(DC) to

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current that periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time, in contrast to direct current (DC), which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in w ...

(AC) or the reverse. Converter stations are bipolar and could run bidirectionally, enabling the import or export of electricity depending on demand. * subsea and land high-voltage direct current (

HVDC A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating current (AC) transmission systems. Most HVDC links use voltages betwe ...

) cables that will interconnect the converter stations. Cables will run in pairs with a voltage of 500kV. *Sea electrodes and medium voltage direct current cables connecting them to

converter station An HVDC converter station (or simply converter station) is a specialised type of substation which forms the terminal equipment for a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line.Arrillaga, Jos; High Voltage Direct Current Transmission, s ...

s *

Alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current that periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time, in contrast to direct current (DC), which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in w ...

(AC) switchgear connecting converter stations to the grid at four different locations. In the first stage, the interconnector will have 1000 MW capacity. It is expected to cost €2.5 billion in the first stage. The constructors estimate that the first interconnection between Burullus gas power plant in Egypt and Kofinou on Cyprus will be finished in 2022. The longest interconnection between Kofinou on Cyprus and

Fodele Gazi () is a Western suburb of Heraklion and a former municipality in the Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit of Crete in Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of the municipality Malevizi, of which it is ...

on Crete will be completed in 2023. Energy-sector technical engineering recruitment firm Fircroft included the EuroAfrica Interconnector as the fifth biggest among 10 major transmission and distribution projects in the world for 2019 and beyond.10 major Transmission & Distribution projects in 2019 and beyond
''www.fircroft.com'' .

Support in Egypt, Cyprus and Greece

A cooperation agreement was signed in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

on 6 February 2017 between

Nasos Ktorides Athanasios "Nasos" Ktorides (; born 10 November 1968) is a Cyprus, Cypriot entrepreneur and philanthropist, founding Chairman and former CEO of the EuroAsia Interconnector electricity cable, Quantum Corporation, Quantum Energy, Quantum Cable and E ...

, CEO of the project developer EuroAfrica Interconnector, and the Chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Holding Co. (EEHC) Gaber Desouky, in the presence of Egyptian Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker El-Markabi. El-Markabi stressed the strategic importance of the Interconnector for the economic development and energy security of Egypt.

asked to be informed each week on the progress of the project. With the Interconnector it is expected that the three nations will become energy hubs for the African and European power grids. El-Sisi, on meeting with Ktorides on 22 November 2017 in

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

, gave full support and commitment for the Interconnector's construction.Egypt’s El Sisi endorses EuroAfrica Interconnector
ΚΥΠΕ - CYPRUS/Nicosia 21/11/2017ENERGY: Sisi, Tsipras endorse EuroAfrica electricity cable
''www.financialmirror.com'' El-Sisi,

, and the

Alexis Tsipras Alexis Tsipras (, ; born 28 July 1974) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019. A left-wing figure, Tsipras was leader of the List of political parties in Greece, Greek political party Syriza from 200 ...

met in Nicosia the day before.Energy, peace focus of Tripartite Summit
Cyprus Mail, November 21, 2017 They encouraged and welcomed private sector initiatives for energy infrastructure projects, and emphasized the energy security of all three countries. Tsipras on 5 December highlighted the

EuroAsia Interconnector The Great Sea Interconnector, formerly known as the EuroAsia Interconnector was a planned HVDC interconnector between the Greek, Cypriot, and Israeli power grids via the world's longest submarine power cable, with a length of from Israel to Cyp ...

and EuroAfrica Interconnector as major projects important for the economic growth and geostrategy of Greece. It is expected that it will take at least 18 months to complete studies for the project and 3 years will be needed for project implementation. The landing points, exact route of cable and sites of the

s were approved on 26 February 2018 in

during a meeting between Egypt's Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker El-Markabi and Ktorides. The landing point and converter station in Egypt will be near the new highly efficient 4.8 GW Burullus gas power plant, 100 km west of

Damietta Damietta ( ' ) is a harbor, port city and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt. It is located at the Damietta branch, an eastern distributary of the Nile Delta, from the Mediterranean Sea, and about north of Cairo. It was a Cath ...

. Elia, Belgium's electricity

transmission system operator File:Electricity grid simple- North America.svg, 380px, Simplified diagram of AC electricity grid from generation stations to consumers in North America rect 2 243 235 438 Power station rect 276 317 412 556 Transformer rect 412 121 781 400 Elect ...

, has concluded a strategic alliance agreement with EuroAfrica Interconnector management for the development and implementation of the 2,000 MW subsea electricity interconnector. Former Cyprus Foreign Minister (1997—2003, 2013—1 March 2018) and head of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

Foreign Affairs Working group, Ioannis Kasoulides, joined the EuroAfrica Interconnector on 4 April 2018 as Chairman of the Strategic Council. The first Working Group meeting of the EuroAfrica Interconnector with the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company took place in

on 22–23 April 2018. On 25 June 2018 Chairman of EuroAfrica Strategic Council Kasoulides handed to Egypt's Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker El-Markabi a study of the 2,000 MW subsea electricity interconnector. The

, upon meeting with Chairman of the EuroAfrica Strategic Council Kasoulides and CEO Ktorides on 27 June 2018 in

, gave full support again for the Interconnector's implementation. Mohamed Shaker Nasos Ktorides Meeting

El-Sisi, Anastasiades, and Tsipras met again at the 6th Trilateral Summit in Elounda, Crete on 10 October 2018.EuroAfrica Interconnector at 6th Trilateral Summit - Elounda, Crete 10-10-18
vimeo.com They again stressed the importance of the EuroAfrica Interconnector. On 22 May 2019 in Cairo, Ktorides and Eng. Sabah Mohamed Mashal, Chairperson of the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company, signed a framework agreement to implement the cable system's construction.Egypt, EuroAfrica agree to implement interconnector cable with Cyprus, Greece
DailyNewsEgyptHistoric agreement for Egypt-Europe electricity interconnector via Cyprus
in-cyprus.com The agreement was signed in the presence of the Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, the Ministerial Cabinet, and president of the EuroAfrica Interconnector Strategic Board Kasoulides. El-Sisi, Anastasiades, and the new

issued a joint declaration at the conclusion of the 7th Trilateral Summit, held in Cairo on October 8, 2019, in which they expressed their desire to continue strengthening their cooperation in matters of energy. In this regard, the joint declaration by the three leaders said, "they recognised the importance of establishing an electrical grid between Egypt, Cyprus and Greece, such as the framework agreement between the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company and the Euro Africa Interconnector Company on 22 May 2019. Nobel prize laureate Christopher Pissarides has been appointed chairman of the Economic Council of EuroAfrica Interconnector.

Offshore Eastern Mediterranean hydrocarbon findings

The

Levantine Sea The Levantine Sea () is the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Sea. Geography The Levantine Sea is bordered by Turkey in the north and north-east corner, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine in the east, Egypt in the south, and the Aegean ...

is bounded by

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, and

, with

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

in the middle as its largest island. The seafloor of the Eastern Mediterranean Basin is dotted with mud

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

es which spew gas and occasionally

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

into the

benthic zone The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

. Geologically it consists of sediment columns up to 12 km thick capped by

evaporites An evaporite () is a water-soluble sedimentary mineral deposit that results from concentration and crystallization by evaporation from an aqueous solution. There are two types of evaporite deposits: marine, which can also be described as ocean ...

. Geological and oceanographers facts lead to speculation that Levantine sea contains big gas and oil deposits trapped in evaporites. Recently in Egypts

Exclusive Economic Zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...

Eni Eni is an Italian oil and gas corporation. Eni or ENI may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Escuela Nacional de Inteligencia, the Argentine intelligence academy * Groupe des écoles nationales d’ingénieurs (Groupe ENI), a French engi ...

discovered

Zohr gas field This article describes the energy and electricity production, consumption and import in Egypt. Electricity The electricity sector in Egypt has evolved from full state control to a diversified energy mix, incorporating natural gas, renewable ...

, largest known gas field in Mediterranean.Eni discovers largest known gas field in Mediterranean
The Guardian 30.8.2015 The Zohr gas field holds around of gas. It is estimated that in the Levant Basin there are around of undiscovered gas resources. Interconnector could help better utilization of recently discovered gas fields by converting gas to electricity and transmitting electricity to distant networks.

Egypt as regional energy hub

Mohamed Shaker Nasos Ktorides Gaber Dessouki Meeting

During 2014. Egypt suffered from heavy electricity blackouts. In 2015.

signed $9 billion contract with

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

to supply gas and wind power plants of 16.4 GW capacity. Siemens is building three combined-cycle gas power plants: Beni Sauf, New capital and Burullus, each of 4.8 GW capacity. In Egypt Siemens is also building

wind farms A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...

of capacity of 2 GW. New power plants will boost by 50% Egypt's electricity generation. It is expected that power plants will be delivered during 2018. Under construction is part of 1.8 GW

photovoltaic power station A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building ...

Benban Solar Park. In February 2018 an Egyptian company and partners in Israel's Tamar and Leviathan offshore gas fields announced $15 billion deal to export 6.5 billion cubic meters per year of Israeli gas to Egypt.Egyptian firm to buy $15 billion of Israeli natural gas
Reuters, February 19, 2018 The deal paves way and upgrades status of Egypt as a regional energy hub. Cyprus and Egypt are planning gas pipeline connecting Cyprus' Aphrodite gas field to

LNG Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

facilities in Egypt.

plans 3.000 MW interconnector to

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

.Egypt Plans Power Link to Saudis in $1.6 Billion Project
Bloomberg, December 18, 2017 Via that power link it will be connected to other Gulf countries connected to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and others. Memorandum of Understanding for a Strategic Cooperation in Energy between

and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

was signed on April 23, 2018. EU supports turning Egypt into an energy hub.

Efficiency and big reduction of

New Egyptian combined-cycle gas power plants come with

H-class technology turbines with

energy conversion efficiency Energy conversion efficiency (''η'') is the ratio between the useful output of an energy conversion machine and the input, in energy terms. The input, as well as the useful output may be chemical, electric power, mechanical work, light (radi ...

of 60%. Usually gas power plants have

of up to 38%, oil power plants up to 42% and coal plants from 32% to 42%. Thermal efficiency of Cyprus power stations is 36,5%, and Greek power stations have efficiency less than 40%.Greece Energy efficiency report
''library.e.abb.com'' Increased efficiency will significantly lower fuel costs and also emission. Gas power plants with normal energy conversion efficiency produce electricity with 1.5 to 2 times less compared to coal or oil power plants. On the other hand, Egyptian new high efficient gas power plants for same amount of produced electricity will produce 2 to 3 times less compared to normal oil or coal power stations in use on

and in

Benefits of Interconnector

Ensures secure energy supply of

and

connecting them with European network *Ends energy isolation of

and

and connect them to European network. Cyprus is last member of EU fully isolated without energy interconnections. *For new Egypt and Cyprus gas finding enables path towards new markets in form of electricity. Also enables path for electricity produced from

renewable energy sources Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind power, and hydropower. Bioenergy and ...

. Development of

on isolated systems like Cyprus and Crete could compromise islands electrical systems due to chaotic production fluctuations. Electricity interconnection will enable high percentage of renewable sources in such isolated systems. *Contributes to EU target for 10% of electricity interconnection between member states. *Promotes development of

and significantly contributes to the reduction of *Offers significant economic and geopolitical benefit to 3 countries. It is expected that socio-economic benefit will be around 10 billion €.

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.euroafrica-interconnector.com
Quantum Corporation and Quantum Energy
Electrical interconnectors to and from the Synchronous Grid of Continental Europe Submarine power cables Proposed electric power transmission systems HVDC transmission lines Electric power infrastructure in Egypt Electric power infrastructure in Cyprus Electric power infrastructure in Greece Cyprus–Greece relations Cyprus–Egypt relations Egypt–Greece relations Proposed electric power infrastructure in Europe Proposed electric power infrastructure in Africa