EuroAfrica Interconnector is a

HVDC interconnector This is a list of notable High-voltage direct current, high-voltage direct-current power transmission projects. HVDC projects for long-distance transmission have two (or rarely, more) converter stations and a transmission line interconnecting th ...

and submarine power cable between the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish C ...

, and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

power grid An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. It consists of:Kaplan, S. M. (2009). Smart Grid. Electrical Power ...

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 in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. 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 more specifically since the 1960s, the 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. Its significance largely eclipsed the previous Aswan L ...

power stations.

President of Egypt The president 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 Constitution of Egypt following the E ...

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 served as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. Before retiring as a general in the Egyptian mil ...

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. The office was created in 1960, after Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom. Currently, t ...

Nicos Anastasiades Nicos Anastasiades ( el, Νίκος Αναστασιάδης ; born 27 September 1946) is a Cypriot politician who is the current president of Cyprus since 2013. He was re-elected in 2018. Previously, he was the leader of Democratic Rally bet ...

and Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis, 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

and

s through the island of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

, with a

high-voltage direct current A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system (also called a power superhighway or an electrical superhighway) uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating curre ...

submarine power cable of length around . 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, se ...

s of

Voltage Source Converter An HVDC converter converts electric power from high voltage alternating current (AC) to high-voltage direct current (HVDC), or vice versa. HVDC is used as an alternative to AC for transmitting electrical energy over long distances or between AC powe ...

(VSC) type in bipolar arrangements (in Egypt, Cyprus, and Crete) Converter stations convert

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

(DC) to

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which 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 whic ...

(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 (also called a power superhighway or an electrical superhighway) uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating curre ...

) 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, se ...

s *

Alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which 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 whic ...

(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 ( el, Γάζι) is a Western suburb of Heraklion and a former municipality in the 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 a municipal ...

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 ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

on 6 February 2017 between Nasos Ktorides, 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 Prof. Dr. Mohamed Shaker El-Markabi ( ar, محمد شاكر المرقبي) is an Egyptian engineer and government official. He was chosen by Engineer Ibrahim Mahlab minister to take over the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy. He is Moha ...

. 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, 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 Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras met in Nicosia the day before.Energy, peace focus of Tripartite Summit
Cyprus Mail, November 21, 2017El Fattah el-Sisi, Anastasiades, Tsipras Trilateral Summit 21 November 2017
/ref> 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 EuroAsia Interconnector is a HVDC interconnector between the Greek, Cypriot, and Israeli power grids via the world's longest submarine power cable ( from Israel to Cyprus and from Cyprus to Greece, for a total of ). Connecting Kofinou, Cyp ...

and EuroAfrica Interconnector as major projects important for the economic growth and geostrategy of Greece. ElSisi,NKtorides

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

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 ( arz, دمياط ' ; cop, ⲧⲁⲙⲓⲁϯ, Tamiati) is a port city and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt, a former bishopric and present multiple Catholic titular see. It is located at the Damietta branch, an easter ...

Elia Elia is a name which may be a variant of the names Elias, Elijah, Eli or Eliahu, and may refer to: People * Aelia (gens) or Elia, a ''gens'' of Ancient Rome Mononymic * Elia or Elijah, a biblical prophet * Elia, a pen-name of Charles Lamb First ...

, 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 rect 2 243 235 438 Power station rect 276 317 412 556 Transformer rect 412 121 781 400 Electric power transmis ...

, 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 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 adopts ...

Foreign Affairs Working group,

Ioannis Kasoulides Ioannis Kasoulides ( el, Ιωάννης Κασουλίδης; born 10 August 1948 in Nicosia, Cyprus) is a Cypriot politician, party member of DISY and current Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus. He has served in the same position from 1997 ...

, 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

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 Elounda ( el, Ελούντα, Elúnda), alternatively transliterated as Elounta or Elouda, is a small town on the northern coast of the island of Crete, Greece. It is part of the municipality of Agios Nikolaos. Settlement structure Elounda is f ...

, Crete on 10 October 2018.EuroAfrica Interconnector at 6th Trilateral Summit - Elounda, Crete 10-10-18
/ref> 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.DailyNewsEgypt, Egypt, EuroAfrica agree to implement interconnector cable with Cyprus, Greece
/ref>in-cyprus.com, Historic agreement for Egypt-Europe electricity interconnector via Cyprus
/ref> The agreement was signed in the presence of the

Egyptian Prime Minister The prime minister of Egypt () is the head of the Egyptian government. A direct translation of the Arabic-language title is "Minister-President of Egypt" and "President of the Government". The Arabic title can also be translated as "President of ...

Moustafa Madbouly Mostafa Kamal Madbouly ( ar, مصطفى كمال مدبولي; born 28 April 1966) is the Prime Minister of Egypt, serving since 2018. He was appointed by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to succeed Sherif Ismail following his government's resignat ...

, the Ministerial Cabinet, and president of the EuroAfrica Interconnector Strategic Board Kasoulides. El-Sisi, Anastasiades, and the new Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis 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 Sir Christopher Antoniou Pissarides (; el, Χριστόφορος Αντωνίου Πισσαρίδης; born 20 February 1948

has been appointed chairman of the Economic Council of EuroAfrica Interconnector.

Offshore Eastern Mediterranean hydrocarbon findings

Levantine Sea The Levantine Sea (Arabic: بحر الشام, tr, Levanten Denizi, el, Θάλασσα του Λεβάντε) is the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Sea. Geography The Levantine Sea is bordered by Turkey in the north and north-east co ...

is bounded by

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, Syria,

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, and

, with

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

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

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the Crust (geology), crust of a Planet#Planetary-mass objects, planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Ear ...

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) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

into the benthic zone. 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 Eni discovered

Zohr gas field The Zohr gas field is an offshore natural gas field located in the Egyptian sector of the Mediterranean Sea. The field is located in the Shorouk concession, a concession with an area of which was won by Eni in 2013. The field is estimated to l ...

, largest known gas field in Mediterranean.Eni discovers largest known gas field in Mediterranean, The Guardian 30.8.2015
/ref> 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 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 Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few h ...

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

Benban Solar Park Benban Solar Park is a photovoltaic power station with a total capacity of 1650 MW nominal power which corresponds to an annual production of approximately 3.8 TWh. It is located in Benban (Aswan Governorate) in the western desert, approxim ...

. 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 Aphrodite gas field is an offshore gas field off the southern coast of Cyprus located at the exploratory drilling block 12 in the country's maritime Exclusive Economic Zone. and bordering the Yishai gas field, located in Israeli territorial wate ...

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

facilities in Egypt.

plans 3.000 MW interconnector to

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

.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 political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

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 Siemens H-class technology turbines with energy conversion efficiency of 60%. Usually gas power plants have energy conversion efficiency 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 is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

. 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, 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