Italy invests €700M to double interconnection with Greece as first link celebrates 20th birthday

Italian transmission system operator (TSO) Terna is planning to invest €700 million to double the electricity exchange capacity between Italy and Greece, expected to facilitate a higher integration of renewable sources.

The plan was announced on the day that Terna celebrated 20 years of the first subsea cable that connects the two countries.

The company has included the new interconnection in the Development Plan for the national electricity transmission grid, which envisages €18.1 billion of investments over the next ten years:

Works for the 500 MW project, set to be 200 kilometers long, will start in 2023 and entry into service is anticipated in 2030. Studies are currently underway to define the route and which technologies to use.

Terna stated that overseas connections are one of the key points of its investments in upcoming years.

The first interconnector between Italy and Greece has been operational since mid-2002 and was the first high-depth electrical cross-border interconnection built in Italy.

The 400 kV DC connection, considered strategic by the EU, has a 500 MW bi-directional transport capacity and also allows for energy exchange with neighboring countries.

In the last 20 years, around 40 billion kWh of electricity traveled along the 300-kilometer long line.

At the beginning of 2021, Greek grid operator IPTO said in its 2022-2031 preliminary development plan that it had teamed up with Terna to prepare studies to strengthen the interconnection of their respective electrical systems.

IPTO then revealed that the two countries will be looking to build a new subsea power interconnector with a capacity of between 500 MW and 1 GW.

Register for Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference: