Reuters – Greece’s power grid operator has launched an international open tender for a project linking the island of Crete to the mainland grid via undersea cables, the energy ministry said on Wednesday.
The tender, via an e-auction, will be awarded to “the most economically advantageous offer, based solely on the lowest price”, the ministry said.
The Crete link is expected to be completed by 2020 and is budgeted at 324 million euros, the ministry said. Crete will be connected to the Peloponnese at this stage with a connection to the Attica grid at a later phase of the project.
Power production on Crete, the largest of the Greek islands, is currently provided by three oil-fired plants, which results in producing very expensive power that has to be subsidised by consumers in the mainland. The investment will pay for itself in a very short time by saving 214 million a year in electricity production in Crete.
