(Finance) – It took place today in Brussels, on the occasion of the fourth edition of PCI Energy Days, the ceremony dedicated to the signing of the Grant Agreement for the electrical interconnection project Elmed, the invisible energy bridge that will connect Europe and North Africa and will be built by Terna, the company that manages the Italian electricity transmission network, e Stegthe Tunisian electricity and gas company.
Kadri SimsonEuropean Energy Commissioner, Giuseppina Di FoggiaCEO and General Manager of Terna, e Fayçel Tarifa, President and General Director of Steg, celebrated the signing of the agreement, ratified in August, which started the financing of 307 million euros allocated by the Commission and intended for the submarine connection between Italy and Tunisia.
Funds from the EU funding programme “Connecting Europe Facility”, intended for the development of key projects for the strengthening of community energy infrastructures, have been assigned for the first time in history to a project between a Member State and a Third State.
“Elmed, the electrical connection that will unite Italy and Tunisia is exceptional in many respects. It is the first electricity infrastructure under the Connecting Europe Facility to receive funding for projects developed by a Member State and a third country. I want to congratulate the parties involved for demonstrating effective collaboration and wish the project the best success,” he said Kadri Simson.
“Today’s appointment confirms the role increasingly central to Terna in contributing to the creation of a safe, reliable and resilient European electricity grid. We will also continue to collaborate with community institutions in the future, making available both our unique and distinctive skills and innovative and digitalized solutions”, declared Giuseppina Di Foggia. “Elmed is a strategic infrastructure for Italy and for Europeone of the main interventions of Terna’s Development Plan, and will contribute to the increase and integration of renewable energy on the two continents, allowing the country and the EU to increase the level of energy independence”.
“The financing of 307 million euros, intended for a strategic project like Elmed, confirms the long-standing partnership between the Tunisian Government and the European Union in the energy sector, as well as the importance that this project assumes for a safe, sustainable and renewable energy future. We are convinced that Elmed will contribute to achieving the goal of energy transition in Tunisia by 2030 and increasing the country’s energy independence. The interconnection, which will connect the Tunisian electricity grid to the Italian one through a 600 MW submarine cable, also symbolizes the exceptional level of cooperation between the two continents and, in particular, in the Mediterranean, between Tunisia and Italy, opening the horizon to numerous other projects in the region, thanks to the support of the European Union institutions,” he said Fayçel Tarifa.
The electrical connection of approx 220 km long (of which approximately 200 km in submarine cable at a maximum depth of approximately 800 metres), 600 MW of power and a total of 850 million euros of investment will also contribute to the integration of electricity markets and security of supply energy through the diversification of sources.
Elmed will allow us to reduce climate-changing emissions, enabling the achievement of the objectives set at national and European level on energy and climate by the National Integrated Plan for Energy and Climate and by the Green New Deal.