Great Sea Interconnector: Telemachos Panagiotidis the new Executive Director – European funding at 165.4 million – 2024-07-25 09:13:13

The administrative structure of Great Sea Interconnector, the special purpose subsidiary of ADMIE that implements the Greece-Cyprus-Israel electrical interconnection project, was finalized.

Specifically, yesterday the new Board of Directors was constituted as a body of the company consisting of:

1. Manos Manousakis, Chairman of the Board

2. Ioanni Margari, Deputy Chairman of the Board

3. Eleni Zarikou, Member

4. Ioanni Bretto, Member

5. Liu Yin, Member

6. Theodoros Tsakiris, Member

7. Nikolaos Fridas, Member

As Telemachos Panagiotidis, executive of ADMIE, was appointed Executive Director who will be responsible for the operation of the company with extensive experience in international projects where he was – among others – project manager of the electricity interconnection of Crete-Peloponnese which was completed successfully and within schedule.

The Administrator’s management also met with high-ranking officials of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy -who were in Athens on the occasion of the CESEC Ministerial Conference- in order to discuss the project schedule and the next steps regarding the project financing by the European Commission and the European Investment Bankfollowing the “Notice to Proceed” to the contractor of the cable leg of the Crete-Cyprus interconnection Nexans given at the end of 2023.

Indicative of the EU’s strong support for the project Kthe confidence of the competent European authorities towards ADMIE is the increase of pre-financing from CINEA (European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency), from the 55.2 million euros of the original beneficiary (EuroAsia Interconnector) to 164.5 million eurosan amount that constitutes 25% of the total grant, which have already been collected.

The intensive and effective collaboration between ADMIE and CINEA -which manages the European grant to the project, totaling 657.9 million euros from the Connecting Europe Facility- and receiving all the pre-financing contribute decisively to the acceleration of the project.

The next milestone is the expansion of the stock composition of the Great Sea Interconnector, as the final decision of the government of Cyprus is expected immediately. Meetings of the Manager’s Management and with other interested investors are planned for the next period. Alongside, discussions with credit institutions have already begun in order to make the financial closure of the project on time, for which an indicative Term Sheet from the European Investment Bank is necessary.