The President and CEO of IPTO, Mr. Manos Manousakis, and the Vice President and General Manager of Technology, System Development, and Strategy, Mr. Ioannis Margaris, focused on the critical role of international interconnections for the energy transition of Greece and Europe during their presentations at the 2nd European Regional Dialogue for the Middle East and North Africa (MEFED 2024), held in Thessaloniki.

"In Greece's energy mix, clean energy has already reached 60%, and we are now cutting back on renewable energy generation. We also have very ambitious plans in terms of developing offshore wind farms, which means there will be a stronger need for exports. That is why we are planning a series of new international interconnections," Manousakis said, according to the update from ADMIE.

Regarding the Eastern Mediterranean, he referred to the Great Sea Interconnector, a Greece-Cyprus-Israel interconnector under construction, which, he said, "will enable us to export and import energy."

"Last week we decided to carry out the final studies for the electricity interconnection with Saudi Arabia as well, which will go ahead in the coming months," he added. "There is of course also the Greece-Egypt interconnection, a private project with the Copelouzos Group as the implementing agency, which we support from a technical point of view."

Manousakis pointed out that these projects can enable the transfer of huge amounts of "green" energy from the Mediterranean to central Europe, where the major consumption centres are located. "This will be mutually beneficial for all the economies involved," he noted.

The panel, which was attended by the heads of European operators and Egypt's Deputy Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Dr. Sabah Mashaly, highlighted the need to accelerate interconnections both between EU states and between Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Regarding the interconnections underway in the region, Ms. Mashaly singled out the Greece-Egypt GREGY interconnection, which is planned to bring huge amounts of "clean" renewable energy into the European system through Greece.