“Israel will supply us with gas and electricity will be returned”
New data that can potentially give greater dynamics to the Cyprus-Israel energy interconnection due to the increased electricity needs of the neighboring country, arose during the visit of the Minister of Energy Giorgos Papanastasiou to Israel.
As the KYPE is informed, there now appears to be ground for a structure based on which Israel can send natural gas through an undersea pipeline to Cyprus, where electricity will be produced for both Cyprus' and Israel's power generation needs, with the generated electricity to be channeled through the EuroAsia Interconnector electrical interconnection cable.
Ground now appears to be in place for a structure under which Israel can send natural gas through an undersea pipeline to Cyprus, where electricity will be generated.
The neighboring country will reportedly run a power generation deficit 4 to 5 Gigawatt hours (GWh) in the next four to five years, with the Israeli side giving natural gas to Cyprus which in turn will give electricity to Israel. The “Politis” newspaper highlights this issue in today's publication.
In this way, the capital investment that will be required for the construction of the pipeline can be justified, while with a larger diameter pipeline, natural gas can also be channeled for the purpose of exporting liquefied natural gas to the markets.
Furthermore, with the development of conventional generation combined with green electricity generation, Cyprus will be able to supply Israel to meet these electricity needs.
In this regard, the project that the Cypriot side named “Gas-to-Power” means, as an authoritative source told KYPE, that “Israel will supply us with gas and electricity will be returned”.
These issues they are referred to technical committees, one for natural gas and hydrogen and another for electricity. The technicians are expected to start their work next July.
The key to INGL
During its presence in Israel, the Cypriot mission headed by G. Papanastasiou he also visited the natural gas network infrastructure company (INGL), which manages the networks through which natural gas is channeled to end consumers, whether in the domestic market of Israel or in Egypt or Jordan.
« The thought that was discussed is for Cyprus to become part of this network. It was decided that this company would be suitable to manage this pipeline as part of its network” and the connection with Cyprus, said the same source.
However, the final decisions on this issue will be made in level of political leadership of the country.
