Survey vessel sails to map Greece-Cyprus power link as regional tensions ease

A French-owned survey vessel, ABEILLE MARENGO, set sail from Naples on Oct 23 and is slated to arrive at Heraklion, Crete, on Oct 27 to conduct bathymetric surveys for the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) between Greece and Cyprus. The surveys will begin southeast of the Greek island of Karpathos and extend to the 12-nautical-mile limit off Cyprus, charting the 898-km subsea portion of the 1,208-km cable system. Recent operations on the East Med Corridor fiber-optic cable, carried out by the vessel KOBI REUGG in waters claimed under a Turkey-Libya maritime memorandum, have proceeded without incident, providing a cautiously optimistic backdrop for the GSI.

The interconnector, previously wholly owned by ADMIE, now has a 66 % French stake and is classified as a European Project of Common Interest, receiving €680 million from the European Commission and seeking additional financing from the European Investment Bank. Designed to operate at 500 kV, the cable will transmit up to 1,000 MW and be laid at depths of up to 3,000 m. The total project cost is estimated at €1.9 billion.