MoU milestone in regional energy cooperation
The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Cyprus? Ministry of Energy, Israel and Greece, on cooperation regarding the EuroAsia Interconnector Project, marks another important milestone in the joint efforts of our three countries to promote regional cooperation in the field of energy.
Indicating the strong bonds between our people and building on the work done by our governments over the past few years, especially during the trilateral summits of our Heads of State, the MoU that we signed enhances further the cooperation between Cyprus, Israel and Greece in supporting the planning, potential development and implementation of the EuroAsia Interconnector, as an additional element of the emerging Eastern Mediterranean Energy Corridor.
The Project is a cornerstone of our efforts to transition to a green economy and to fully align economic growth with environmental protection. Once constructed, it will facilitate the integration of additional Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in our energy supply mixes and, thus, enhance our ability to meet our respective commitments under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
For Cyprus in particular, the EuroAsia Interconnector will constitute a decisive step towards ending the island’s energy isolation and, consequently, our dependence on heavy fuels. This isolation has been a major hindrance to our economy’s overall competitiveness and we are now working hard to promote, in parallel, several different solutions.
Apart from regional electricity interconnections, these also include a fully liberalised electricity market by early 2022, plans for installation of energy storage systems and construction of the “CyprusGas2EU” project. The latter is on course to be completed by the end of 2022 and includes an LNG import terminal at Vasilikos area that will be ready to receive first gas, initially to be used for power generation.
The EuroAsia Interconnector Project, of course, as a 2,000 MW electricity highway running through Israel, Cyprus and Greece, the first phase of which is expected to be operational within 2025, will not only connect our island with the energy grids of Asia and Europe, but will also contribute to the completion of the European Internal Market. As such, it is acknowledged by the European Commission as a key Project of Common Interest and eligible for financing from the “Connecting Europe Facility”.
The three countries signing the MoU, have come to the common understanding that we need to cooperate in facilitating the timely granting of permits and approvals needed for carrying out feasibility studies, as well as the discussions and coordination between our national electricity regulatory authorities and Transmission System Operators.
Moreover, we must ensure adherence to appropriate environmental standards during all stages of the Project’s implementation, endeavour to harmonise our respective technical standards and examine the ways and means of ensuring the safety, security, sustainability, resilience and reliability of the electricity interconnector cable.
Cyprus, Israel and Greece have so much to gain from the implementation of the EuroAsia Interconnector Project. Fortifying our electricity grids and allowing the further integration of RES, enhancing our security of energy supply and becoming exporters of energy, are but a few of the tangible benefits, which we hope to harness in the most efficient way possible through today’s MoU.
The ambitious EUR 6 bln EastMed natural gas pipeline could be built and ready within the next five years, Israeli Energy Yuval Steinitz told the Cyprus News Agency in an interview.
“In Israel, we have a huge surplus of gas. We have enough to justify not one EastMed pipeline, but I think together with Cyprus, we can justify even two or three such pipelines,” Steinitz said.
Regarding Turkey’s illegal drilling activities in Cyprus’ EEZ, he hoped Ankara would change its attitude and will coordinate its efforts with Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel rather than choose conflict.
“Finally, after many years of missed opportunities, Israel, Cyprus, and Greece decided to combine forces together to help each other’s economic development.”
“The EastMed pipeline will enable Israel and Cyprus to export natural gas directly to Greece and Italy, and from Greece and Italy to the Balkans and Central Europe. So, this is an extremely important project.”
Steinitz said Israel has a vast surplus of gas and in 2016 persuades the European Union that it was looking to replace Nord Stream, “Israel and Cyprus can be trusted.”
“This is going to be the longest and deepest subsea gas pipeline in the world, and the EU is doing feasibility studies.”
“I hope that five years from now, we will have this pipeline in place. I believe that the electricity (EuroAsia) interconnector might be in place in two or three years. The
EastMed pipeline is a bigger and more expensive project; it will probably take around five years.”
An MoU was signed in Tel Aviv in 2017 by Greece, Italy, Cyprus and Israel together with the EU Energy Commissioner.
“This is an extremely important project for us, even though we are already exporting natural gas to our neighbours.
“But we have a huge surplus of gas, and we have enough to justify not one EastMed pipeline, but I think together with Cyprus we can justify even two or three such pipelines.”
Greek-Italian gas joint venture IGI Poseidon said Tuesday it had signed an agreement with the Israel Natural Gas Lines Company to cooperate on building facilities to connect Israel to the East Med gas pipeline in the eastern Mediterranean.
Greece, Cyprus, and Israel last year signed a deal to build the pipeline, which has been in the planning for several years and seeks to transport gas from offshore Israel and Cyprus to Greece and Italy to help Europe diversify its energy resources.
IGI Poseidon, a joint venture between Greece’s stateowned gas utility DEPA and Italy’s Edison, said the agreement with the Israeli company, which updates a 2019 memorandum of understanding, aims to connect the Eastmed project to the Israeli transmission system and facilitate gas flows from the eastern Mediterranean to Italy and Europe, via Cyprus.
The two parties will cooperate on planning and licensing the necessary facilities in Israel for the EastMed.
State-owned Israel Natural Gas Lines said the connection will allow gas to flow from all the Israeli gas fields.
Greece, Cyprus, and Israel aim to reach a final investment decision on the EastMed project by 2022 and have the EUR 6 bln pipeline completed by 2025