Greece-Bulgaria power link officially inaugurated
The importance of the second power grid connection between Greece and Bulgaria for the Southeast European electricity market was highlighted at the project’s formal inauguration on Friday, during the ministerial meeting of the Central and Southeastern Europe Energy Connectivity (CESEC) group.
Welcoming the agreement, Greek Energy Minister Theodoros Skylakakis said that with the new interconnection, “the greatest nominal margin of energy exchanges between the two countries now totals 1.7 gigawatts. This is the largest interconnection with any other neighboring country and highlights the importance of this new infrastructure, one of the most beneficial that two countries share. In the future we envision a new 2 GW interconnection of continuous power between Greece and Bulgaria, with which even greater volumes of green energy will be transferred from Greece, with electric energy coming from the Bulgarian side as well.”
European Union Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson described the project as a “significant milestone for the differentiation of energy sources, the deepening of the EU’s electricity market, and Greece’s and Bulgaria’s move away from coal use – given Greece’s ability to become a significant source of ‘green’ energy.”