IPTO to skip Brussels meeting on Euroasia Crete link dispute

Greece’s power grid operator IPTO has chosen not to be represented at a meeting scheduled for today in Brussels as an effort to resolve the operator’s dispute with the Euroasia Interconnector consortium for control of the development of Crete’s major-scale electricity grid interconnection with Athens.

The Euroasia Interconnector consortium, responsible for the wider Euroasia Interconnector, a PCI-status project planned to link the Greek, Cypriot and Israeli power grids via Crete, has insisted on also controlling the project’s Cretan segment.

The adamant stance of Euroasia Interconnector, a consortium of Cypriot interests, makes it pointless for IPTO to be represented at today’s meeting, IPTO officials have concluded, according to enegypress sources.

The Greek and Cypriot regulatory authorities for energy and European Commission officials are all expected be participate at today’s meeting.

Over the past couple of months, the Euroasia consortium has claimed Belgian power grid operator Elia would finance its stake in the Euroasia project. This has yet to occur.

According to sources, Elia intends to conduct a feasibility study to decide if its involvement in the investment plan for the Greek-Cypriot-Israeli interconnection project would be viable.

Sources have not ruled out a meeting between IPTO and Elia officials during the current month for investment plan talks.

At this stage, RAE, Greece’s Regulatory Authority for Energy, appears likely to award IPTO the Crete-Athens segment of the wider project by early September.