[Reuters]
The electrical interconnection of Cyprus with Greece is a major opportunity for the island, both in terms of energy and politically, US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt said at a roundtable discussion organized by the Delphi Economic Forum at the COP29 summit in Baku.
The power link will help in the resolution of a series of problems, he noted, including the fact Cyprus is the only EU member without interconnection.
The former US ambassador in Athens added that Greece has a key role to play as a regional energy hub, citing the Greece-Cyprus-Israel Great Sea Interconnector and the natural gas vertical corridor that will allow for a two-way flow between Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and Ukraine, by linking the existing and new European gas and LNG transmission infrastructures.
Responding to concerns about the upcoming change in the US administration, he noted that the Alexadroupoli Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU), an integral part of the “Vertical Natural Gas Corridor,” started during the previous Donald Trump administration and US company Venture Global has already invested in 25% of its capacity for the next five years.