EuroAsia Interconnector Project Submarine power cable

EuroAsia Interconnector Project 

Submarine power cable 

Feasibility study status 

Executive summary 

Presented by: Yakov (Yasha) Hain, Senior Executive VP 

Israel Electric Corporation Ltd. 

November 8, 2012 

Doing business with Israel summit

EuroAsia Interconnector Project 

Submarine power cable 

Feasibility study status 

Executive summary 

Presented by: Yakov (Yasha) Hain, Senior Executive VP 

Israel Electric Corporation Ltd. 



Project description 

• Euro‐Asia Interconnector is a project intended to link 

the electrical systems of Israel, Cyprus and Greece 

(via Crete) through sub‐marine DC cables and HVDC 

onshore stations in each country 

• Total capacity – 2000 MW 

• Participants: 

– DEH‐Quantum Energy 

– Electricity Authority of Cyprus 

– TSO ‐ Cyprus 

– Israel Electric Corporation 


Doing business with Israel summit 3

Project activities ‐ MOU 

March 04, 2012. Tel Aviv. Israel 

endorsed its commitment to 

implementing the EuroAsia 

Interconnector energy bridge 

project connecting Greece, Cyprus 

and Israel signing an agreement 

with DEH‐Quantum Energy LLC. 

March 23, 2012. Nicosia. The 

Electricity Authority of Cyprus 

formalized its participation in the 

three‐nation operation to lay the 

EuroAsia Interconnector submarine 

electricity cable signing a 

cooperation agreement with PPC ‐ 

Quantum Energy LLC 



Project activities –working 

groups 

April 23, 2012. Nicosia. The first 

Steering Committee Meeting. 

The Committee took decision on 

Feasibility study and schedule 

for its implementation 

June 13, 2012. Tel Aviv. Finalization of the Steering 

Committee and the Working Groups. Chairman of ΔΕΗ‐ 

Quantum Mr. Athanasios Ktorides informed the Steering 

Committee that the Cyprus Government had applied to EU 

for consideration and approval of the EuroAsia 

Interconnector as a cross‐border project of common interest. 



Project activities –working 

groups 

Network analysis 

Group coordinator: Dr. David Elmakias, IEC 

Group coordinator: Mr. Stavros Stavrinos, TSO Cyprus 

Dr. Elias Kyriakides, ΔΕΗ-QUANTUM 

Mr. Pavel Kulbekov, IEC 

Dr. Yair Malakhi, IEC 

Mrs. Sanda Harel, IEC 

Mr. Evaggelos Anastasiades, EAC 

Mr. Ioannis Papageorgiou, EAC 

Market analysis and regulation 

Group coordinator: Ms. Dimitra Croba, 

ΔΕΗ-QUANTUM 

Dr. Vladimir Podshivalov, IEC 

Ms. Tali Shitrit, IEC 

Mr. Sylvian Locar, IEC 

Mr. Andreas Poullikas, EAC 

Mr. Constantinos Rouvas, EAC 

Cable routing and environmental 

Group coordinator: Mr. Athanasios 

Stivaros, ΔΕΗ-QUANTUM 

Dr. Hanoch Ben-Haim, IEC 

Dr. Tal Katz, IEC 

Mr. Tasos Gregoriou, EAC 

Technology issues: cable and converter station 

Group coordinator: Dr. Hanoch Ben-Haim, IEC 

Dr. Elias Kyriakides, ΔΕΗ-QUANTUM 

Mr. Ilan Akons, IEC 

Mr. Ziv Nir, IEC 

Mr. Dinos Charalambides, EAC 

Generation 

Mrs. Sanda Harel, IEC 

Mr. Pavel Kulbekov, IEC 

Dr. Yair Malakhi, IEC 

Mr. Andreas Poullikas, EAC 

Mr. Constantinos Rouvas, EAC 



Description of electricity 

systems 

Greece 

Capacity –12,890 MW 

Production –51.9 TWh* 

Cyprus 


Production –5.2 TWh 

* incl. export/import 


Israel 


Production –57.3 TWh 


Preliminary cable route 

Greece 

Crete 

Cyprus 

Israel 

The route consists of three sectors: 

• Israel –Cyprus section between Hadera site in Israel and Vasilikos site in 

Cyprus. 

• Cyprus –Crete section between Vasilikos site in Cyprus and Korakia site 

in Crete. 

• Crete –Continental Greece section between Korakia site in Crete and 

Attica region in Continental Greece. 



Preliminary cable 

route 

Section 

Israel –Cyprus 

Length, km 

330 

Maximal 

depth, m 

2300 

Cyprus –Crete 

Crete – Continental 

Greece 

880 

310 

2700 

1400 



Preliminary cable 

route 

The major challenge of this project – sea depth 



Technology issues 

Request for Information has been prepared 

and distributed to the main manufacturers of 

HVDC equipment 

Four manufacturers answered the RFI: 

• Alstom as a HVDC converter manufacturer 

• ABB as a HVDC converter and submarine cables 

manufacturer 

• Siemens as a HVDC converter manufacturer 

• Prysmian as a sub‐marine cables manufacturer 

Siemens and Prysmian participated in RFI as a 

consortium. 



Technology issues ‐ cable 

Mass‐Impregnated (MI) Cable 

The technology is available for 

voltages up to 600 kV and a 

transmission capacity of up to 

2200 MW 

XPLE Cable 

The technology is available 

for voltages up to 320 kV and a 

transmission capacity of up to 

1000 MW in one cable 

Preliminary conclusion: 

•The project is technologically feasible based on MI 500kV 500 MW 

cables. 

• Project schedule is determined by the submarine cable availability 

including R&D stage and manufacturing/installation duration 



Technology issues ‐ converter 

Line commutated LCC 

LCC is the most widely 

adopted technology with 

many years of service 

experience but has 

limitation for bidirectional 

energy flow. 

Preliminary conclusion: feasible 

Self‐commutated VSC 

VSC technology allows bi-directional 

energy flow and true multi-terminal 

control. 

VSC converters have already 

implemented in a few projects, and 

planned for on-going projects at +/- 

300kV and 350kV. 

Theoretically there is no limitation to 

voltage level and +/- 500kV VSC 

converter is feasible. 



Technology issues ‐ 

configuration 

There are three main HVDC basic systems: 

• Monopolar HVDC systems 

• Bipolar HVDC systems 

• Multi‐terminal HVDC systems 

Preliminary conclusion: 

At this level of information the best alternative is a bipolar configuration 

with monopolar bypass and sea electrodes. 

The final choice of the configuration will be optimized according to 

energy flow and reliability needs. 



Network analysis. Study 

Objectives 

• DC link impact study on existing transmission system. 

• HVDC connection to the transmission system 

• Steady State analysis of existing system with DC 

cable connection from the thermal limits and voltage 

constraints perspective 

• Transmission expansion plan to make possible the 

connection of up to 1000 and 2000MW 

• Power flow calculation of DC link –power losses and 

voltage changes 

• Contingency Analysis 



Network analysis. Israel 

Dynamic Analysis 

• In order to maintain stability after a fault, imported power 

should not exceed 30% of the local load. 

• An HVDC Interconnection with a 1000 MW capacity is not 

expected to present a problem at any point in time. 

• An outage of the HVDC Interconnection with a capacity of 

2000 MW during export could: 

– Risk the integrity of the Israeli power system during 3.7% of the time 

in the year 2022. 

– Cause severe disruptions in energy supply during 5.5% of the time in 

the year 2022. 

– The risk posed by an outage of a 2000 MW HVDC Interconnection 

could be reduced by lowering the capacity factor or by redesign of 

system protections. 



Network analysis. Cyprus 

• Importing power into the Cyprus system, maximum power 

loss of 225 MW may be tolerated. It will result in 

disconnection of 11% of the consumer loads for at least 15‐ 

20 minutes. The disconnected consumers will be restored 

within 15‐20 minutes by starting the five peaking open‐cycle 

gas turbine units, provided that they are available. 

• For a sudden loss of power import higher than 225 MW, the 

resulting shed consumer loads will require a substantially 

higher restoration time, ranging from 4 to 6 hours, 

depending on the system conditions, as large steam 

generating units will have to be committed. 



Network analysis. Cyprus 

• The maximum power that can be imported is 

between 850‐900 MW, but if one of the two DC 

cables is tripped during such an operation, at least 

27% of the system load will be shed and the 

corresponding restoration time will be of the order 

of several hours, which is unacceptable. 

• Higher import is not feasible, due to the constraint 

imposed by the minimum stable loading levels of 

the generating units. 



Market analysis. Greece 

• Greece is an “electrical 

peninsula”. Greek Wholesale 

Market has a weak correlation 

with the major European markets 

and exhibits higher level of 

wholesale prices 

• All the northern neighbors of 

Greece have lower prices and are 

net importers to the Greek 

market 

• Italy –another “electrical 

peninsula” is the only stable net 

importer from Greece. 


Note: we do not examine here the feasibility 

of Crete-Greece interconnection , which is 

clearly proved already 


Market analysis. Greece 

• Electricity production costs in Israel in the medium 

perspective are going to be lower than the Greek ones 

• This situation dictates the Greek market as a primary target 

for EuroAsia Interconnector project 

• The Italian market is considered as a secondary target, 

(+) characterized by high level of prices and 

(+) much larger trading activity, but 

(‐) access to the market is limited due to the lack of 

transmission capacity 

Dominant power flow through EuroAsia Interconnector 

South (Cyprus, Israel) to North (Greece) 



Market analysis 

Main scenarios 

• Development plans of Cyprus, Greece and Israel based 

mainly on gas fired CCGT units and use of renewable 

energy sources 

• We are expecting a stable gap of 7‐8 $/MMBTU 

between Greek and Israeli NG prices in favor of Israel. 

• It’s equivalent to 35‐40 €/MWh difference in marginal 

costs (operational variable costs) for modern units 

• The price of Cypriot natural gas is less certain. 

• We consider three scenarios which are dictated by 

three Cypriot gas prices possibilities 



Market analysis. Scenario A 

“No‐change” 

• Fuel prices in Cyprus are similar to the 

current level 

• The marginal costs are the highest in Cyprus 

• Cypriot export to other countries in such 

conditions is uneconomical, so Cyprus is 

going to be electricity net importer from the 

cable. 

• Both Greek and Israeli electricity is competitive for Cypriot market, but Israeli 

electricity, due to their lower costs, has a priority 

• Greek export to Cyprus is hardly possible as a stable business pattern 

• Relatively small Cypriot market can't fully use the Cable capacity 

• The remaining part of electricity is sold at the Greek market 



Market analysis. Scenario B 

“Gas parity scenario” 

• Fuel prices in Cyprus are similar to 

those in Israel. 

• The marginal costs (operational 

variable costs) is highest in Greece. 

Greek export to other countries in 

such conditions is uneconomical, 

• Greece is energy net importer from 

the cable. 

• Both Cypriot and Israeli electricity is competitive for Greek 

market, nobody has a priority. 

• Israeli export to Cyprus or Cypriot to Israel is hardly possible as a 

stable business pattern. 



Market analysis. Scenario C 

“Cypriot energy hub scenario” 

• Fuel prices in Cyprus are much lower 

than in Israel. 

• The marginal costs (operational 

variable costs) will be lowest in Cyprus 

• Cypriot export to both other countries 

–Greece and Israel ‐ is economical, so 

Cyprus will be energy net exporter to 

the cable. 

• Both Greek and Israeli electricity are going to consume Cypriot 

electricity 

• This scenario dictates a need for construction of CCGT plants in 

Cyprus which will produce electricity mainly for export. 



Summary 

• Finalising of Feasibility Study report – 

02/2013 

• Project implementation: 

– 2018, first stage Israel‐Cyprus and Greece‐ 

Crete; 

– 2020, second stage Cyprus‐Crete. 



Thank you

EuroAsia Interconnector Project Submarine power cable

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