The country’s grid interconnection linking the Greek and Italian systems, out of order since October 20 and not expected to be reinstalled until mid-January, will not cause any capacity issues in Greece, IPTO, the power grid operator, and Terna, Italy’s transmission system operator, have reassured in an announcement.

The temporary disconnection has affected the volume of Greek-Italian transboundary electricity trade, which is influencing system marginal prices.

The disconnection could affect the export plans of local electricity suppliers who purchased low-priced electricity through Greece’s recent inaugural NOME auction and were planning to supply amounts to Italy, where electricity prices are relatively higher at present.

According to a report published by RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, 14.9 percent of revenues generated by electricity auctions concerning Greece and interconnected neighbors stemmed from the Italian market in the second half of 2015 and first half of 2016. The temporarily disconnected interconnection facilitates 12.1 percent of Greece’s electricity imports and 2.8 percent of exports.