What Will It Take to Unlock the Greece-Cyprus Cable?

The undersea cable meant to connect the electricity grids of Greece and Cyprus has cleared a major financial hurdle, but a cluster of technical, financial and diplomatic questions still need to be resolved before construction can move into its next phase.

The project, known as the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI), gained fresh momentum after French investment group Meridiam agreed to take a majority stake in the company developing the Greece-Cyprus leg, an agreement that built on the alliance between Athens and Paris forged after French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Athens last April.

The next step: mapping the seabed

With the financing question largely settled, attention is turning to the physical work of building the cable. The next critical step is a set of seabed surveys to identify the best route between Crete and Cyprus, work that requires a specialized research vessel and a formal navigational notice, known as a NAVTEX, that Athens plans to request from the Hellenic Navy. A NAVTEX is an internationally recognized maritime safety notice that alerts other vessels operating in a given area, a