Ariadne Interconnection, a 1.1 billion-euro project to link the power grids of Crete and Athens, whose installation has reached the final mile, is expected to be completed by mid-2024, and should be electrified in 2024, enabling its commercial launch in the summer of 2025, Manos Manousakis, CEO at Greek power grid operator IPTO, developing the project,  has informed.

Once Ariadne Interconnection is operating, Crete, Greece’s largest island with a population of roughly 650,000, will be supplied its electricity from the mainland system rather than costly power plants now operating on the island.

The interconnection promises to reduce a public service compensation surcharge included in electricity bills by some 600 million euros annually, 400 million euros of which concern Crete.

Some of the island’s existing power plants are planned to be maintained to provide roughly 400 MW as back up. They include power utility PPC’s main power plant on Crete, at Linoperamata, west of Heraklion.

The Ariadne Interconnection project’s main building facilities on Crete, an AC-to-DC conversion hall, and the control building, are now close to being completed. Manousakis, IPTO’s CEO, will be visiting the facilities today. Corresponding facilities at the project’s Athenian end are also progressing.

The project’s completed smaller segment, running from Crete to the Peloponnese, has already benefited the island since its launch ahead of the summer of 2021, Crete’s first summer without power outages, Crete’s regional governor Stavros Arnaoutakis noted during a meeting with the IPTO chief yesterday.

The Great Sea Interconnector, a project to link the Cretan, Cypriot and Israeli grids,  estimated to be completed around 2029, promises to establish Crete as an energy hub, Arnaoutakis added.