New Executive Director appointed at Great Sea Interconnector
New Executive Director appointed at Great Sea Interconnector - €164.5 million of European funding for the major energy project
The management structure of Great Sea Interconnector, the special purpose subsidiary of IPTO that implements the Greece-Cyprus-Israel electricity interconnection project, has been finalised.
In particular, yesterday the new Board of Directors of the company was established, consisting of:
1. Manos Manousakis, Chairman of the Board of Directors
2. Ioannis Margaris, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors
3. Eleni Zarikou, Member
4. Ioannis Vrettos, Member 5. Liu Yin, Member
6. Theodoros Tsakiris, Member
7. Nikolaos Frydas, Member
Tilemachos Panagiotidis, an IPTO executive with extensive experience in international projects, who served -among others- as project manager of the Crete-Peloponnese electrical interconnection, which was successfully completed on schedule, was appointed as Executive Director with overall responsibility for the operation of the company.
Moreover, the management of the Operator met with high-level officials of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy -who were in Athens on the occasion of the CESEC Ministerial Conference- in order to discuss the project's schedule and the next steps regarding its financing by the European Commission and the European Investment Bank, following the "Notice to Proceed" to the contractor company, Nexans, of the cable section of the Crete-Cyprus interconnection, which was given at the end of 2023.
Indicative of the strong support of the EU to the project and the confidence of the competent European authorities towards IPTO, is the increase of the pre-financing from CINEA (European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency), from €55.2 million of the original beneficiary (EuroAsia Interconnector) to €164.5 million, comprising 25% of the total grant, which have already been received.
The intensive and efficient cooperation between IPTO and CINEA -which manages the European grant to the project, totalling €657.9 million from the Connecting Europe Facility- and the disbursment of the total pre-financing, are making a decisive contribution to the acceleration of the project.
The next milestone is the expansion of the Great Sea Interconnector's shareholding structure, as the final decision of the Government of Cyprus is expected to be taken shortly. In the near future, meetings are planned between the Management of the Operator and other interested investors. At the same time, discussions with credit institutions have already started in order to ensure a timely financial closure of the project, for which an indicative Term Sheet from the European Investment Bank is necessary.
