Damianos: Govt backs GSI but wary of cost burden on consumers

The government supports implementation of the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) but takes seriously the project’s economic viability and its impact on consumers, Energy Minister Michalis Damianos said on Sunday. In an interview with Kathimerini , he said calculations already carried out show the project will increase the price of electricity per kilowatt hour, and that if costs rise significantly, “additional funding from European or other funds should be sought”. Damianos said Cyprus’s potential participation in the project’s share capital “is not an end in itself”, remarking that holding a minority stake would not by itself guarantee a substantive say in decision making. He said other options were being considered, including adjusting the cost payback period, so that the burden on consumers is spread “in a sustainable manner”.

He said the government wants and supports the project because it would secure electricity supply for Cyprus and carries geopolitical value, adding that the Cyprus to Israel connection would follow the Cyprus to Crete link, forming part of the wider India Middle East Europe corridor (Imec). He said President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had agreed to update the project’s technical and economic parameters, with a study by the European Investment Bank (EIB) expected to be completed before the end of the year, which would produce a clearer picture of the final cost. Damianos said the overall price of electricity does not depend solely on the interconnector, pointing to the completion of the Vasiliko project, the import of natural gas for electricity generation and an increase in energy storage batteries as factors that would assist in reducing costs. On whether Cyprus could withdraw from the project if it proved…