Cyprus and Lebanon to hold first technical meeting on subsea power cable on September 16

Cyprus and Lebanon will hold their first technical meeting on Wednesday, September 16, on the feasibility study for a subsea power transmission line between the two countries. The World Bank is participating in the work, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) reported.

Lebanon’s Minister of Energy and Water Joe Saddi said in a television interview in Lebanon that the proposal to sell Cypriot electricity to Lebanon was put forward during Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s visit to the island several months ago. Saddi later travelled to Cyprus, after which the governments of the two countries agreed with the World Bank to finance the study.

In July, Cyprus’s Energy Minister Michalis Damianos and Saddi approved the study’s terms of reference and agreed to establish a joint technical committee. The work will be carried out in two stages and fully financed by the World Bank.

At the first stage, specialists will study electricity demand and supply, as well as the economic viability of different interconnection scenarios. A detailed technical and economic assessment of the project will begin only if the preliminary findings are positive; it will determine the conditions under which the line can be built.

The two governments had previously described the agreement as “an important milestone in cooperation between the two countries”, aimed at “strengthening regional energy links, enhancing energy security and promoting sustainable economic development in the Eastern Mediterranean”. According to Saddi, a positive assessment would open Lebanon’s way not only to the Cypriot grid but also to the European grid, via the planned Cyprus–Greece electricity interconnection.

Meanwhile, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said in an interview with Plus TV that the country would allocate €25 million to the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) project after a Navtex navigation notice on the resumption of survey work is issued. The agreement was reached with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.