Another tender opens for new Mediterranean interconnector

A government-owned Maltese company has issued a tender looking to appoint a contractor to deliver the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for a new interconnector in the central Mediterranean.

InterConnect Malta has launched a tender for the undertaking of an EIA for the Maltese portion of the second Malta to Sicily electrical interconnector.

The aim is to appoint an EIA coordinator and independent consultants to deliver the necessary studies and assess the likely impacts of the environmental parameters.

The assessments should cover all the activities that will take place in the Maltese section of the project, from the Enemalta Magħtab terminal station up to the median line between Malta and Italy.

This includes compiling all documentation, presentation of the findings to the competent authorities and assisting InterConnect Malta on the assessments until the issuance of the development permit by the Planning Authority.

Interested parties are free to submit their applications by 25 August at 09:30 a.m. local time. The duration of the contract is 14 months.

The second Malta-Sicily cable link is part of the Maltese Government’s future energy strategy for meeting the 2030 climate and energy targets and the longer-term decarbonization objectives.

InterConnect Malta, established in August 2018 as Melita TransGas, is developing the project.

The interconnector will consist of a subsea and onshore cable link between the Maghtab terminal station, operated by Enemalta, and the Ragusa 220kV substation in Sicily, operated by Terna.

Similar to the first electrical link, it will have a nominal continuous rating capacity of 200MW, and can operate in a bi-directional mode, generally importing electricity from Sicily, but being technically able to transmit electricity from Malta to Sicily should excess electricity produced in Malta be available in the future.

The tender looking for a provider of the EIA for the Italian part of the project was launched in mid-June.