The planned cable link between Chania and Damasta which is currently generating a lot of heated reactions is designed, it will be remembered, to balance the load between the two undersea cables linking Crete with the Greek mainland. The first and smaller cable linking Nopigia with the Peloponnese being already in operation, the second, which links Damasta in Heraklion with Attica, is in the final stages and is expected to come into operation by the summer of 2025. This was announced in a press release published yesterday, 17th October, by ADMIE regarding the sale of part of Ariadne Interconnection, the ADMIE subsidiary which is carrying out the latter project:

State Grid acquires 20 per cent of Ariadne Interconnection AEES
On Thursday 17th October, the board of ADMIE ratified the sale of 20 per cent of its subsidiary Ariadne Interconnection AEES to the company State Grid International Development Belgium Ltd, which had submitted an improved binding offer during the tender process. Completion of the transaction remains to be approved by the relevant authorities.

Ariadne Interconnection AEES [a “special purpose limited company”] is the implementing body for the electrical connection between Attica and Crete, which is the biggest and most complex power transmission project in Greece and one of the three deepest undersea connections in the world.

The construction part of the project has been completed with the laying of the entire undersea cable (500kV) and optical fibre cables, while the cabling and installation for the on-shore equipment is in its final stages. Electrification of the cable will start on a trial basis at the beginning of 2025, and it will become operational next summer.

The sum paid for the acquisition, according to Capital.gr, is €62 million .

Connections necessary for European integration
While the protests against the Chania-Damasta overground cable have included accusations that that project and the wind farms planned for 6 different areas of the Nomos of Chania will not lead to reduced electricity prices for local consumers, but only put profits in the pockets of “green investors”, ADMIE, as the body overseeing the development of the country’s grid, is taking a more strategic view of the situation.

In a speech to ITC 2024, the 7th Infrastructure and Transport Conference held in Athens on 16-18 September, the CEO of ADMIE, Manousos Manousakis, emphasised the need for the unification of the European electricity market through international connections in order ensure energy security and lower prices.

“The unification of the European electricity market is a very important step for the more general unification of Europe,” he said, emphasising that what is needed is for all the bodies involved to sit down around a “European table” and to approach the issue in common and not from the limited perspective of each state separately. Referring to a recent exposition of the former president of the ECB Mario Draghi, he stressed that what is needed is a supranational and flexible institutional framework, which will treat the EU as a unified electrical space. “The position of ADMIE and of ENTSO-E [European Network of Transmission System Operators] is that both horizontal and vertical axes of electrical interconnections are needed. There must be a pan-European plan with a fair apportionment of profit and cost between governments.”

Mr Manousakis described ADMIE as the “executive arm” of the country as regards its national energy strategy, as it plans and executes a series of cross-border connections towards each side of the borders. He made special reference to the issue of prices, maintaining that interconnections are the answer to the smooth functioning of competition and to ensuring that lower prices predominate at a pan-European level. “So long as these avenues do not exist, distortions are created in the market,” he said.

Emphasising the great importance that they have for Greece and for the wider area, he cited as examples the second interconnection with Bulgaria and the market’s linking with Italy, adding that since then “we are seeing an increase in imports and exports to and from Greece, which means that competition is working better.”
(www.admie.gr)