Europe has relied on Russia for natural gas for many years and accustomed to it. It was not until the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war that European countries discovered that all its eggs should not be put in the same basket. Therefore, various large-scale projects that were considered unreasonable in the past and were ignored or rejected were all re-examined. Southern European countries also think that they can become new energy import ports in Europe including the Iberian Peninsula that can be used as a liquefied natural gas throughput port and Greece as a contact point for importing electricity to Egypt.
The Copelouzos Group, a Greek investment institution, has put forward a bold idea to pull a high-voltage direct current transmission cable from the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, cross the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and to the Attica region of Athens, Greece, with a transmission capacity of 3 GW to create a "highway" to transmit electricity from North African countries on the southern coast of the Mediterranean to Europe on the northern coast of the Mediterranean, a project called the GREGY Transmission Link.
（Source：africanews）
But where does the electricity come from? Since mid-August, Egypt has asked its citizens to save electricity in order to export natural gas to earn foreign exchange. After 11 p.m., the street lights are turned off, and the air conditioner can only be turned on to a minimum of 25°C. How can there be excess electricity to Europe? In fact, the Egypt-Greece cross-sea transmission line is only part of a huge plan. It is also planned to build a large-scale wind power farm in the desert area on both sides of the Suez Canal in Egypt.
In addition, Egypt has also established cross-border power transmission links with neighboring Libya, Sudan, and as far away as Saudi Arabia. A large amount of solar energy can be built in the deserts and dry areas of North Africa and the Middle East. At that time, the power generation of various countries will be transported to Europe through Egypt, meeting the needs of European green energy demand. If these large-scale projects can be built, Saudi Arabia will transform from exporting oil to exporting green energy, but it will still be an energy exporter. Egypt will charge tolls for electricity transmission in addition to tolls for the Suez Canal.
The Copelouzos Group believes that this plan can help Europe get rid of its dependence on Russian energy. When completed, renewable energy, whether wind or solar, will be much cheaper than it is now. The transmission of renewable energy to Europe will also help reduce the price of energy consumption in Greece and the whole of Europe.
The GREGY power transmission project from Egypt to Greece, with a total budget of 3.5 billion euros, has been recognized by the European Union as a plan of common interest. The total length of the HVDC submarine cable from Egypt to Greece is 1,373 kilometers and the cable connecting wind farms to the Egyptian node is 640 kilometers long. The project is expected to be completed in 7-8 years. After completion, it is estimated that about one-third of the electricity will be transmitted to Greece, mainly for Greek industry. One third is transferred to European countries and the remaining one third is used to manufacture green hydrogen in Greece, which will be exported to neighboring European countries.
After the Russian-Ukrainian War, many large-scale energy infrastructure designs have come back to life or have been re-proposed. Transoceanic pipelines and power transmission or pipelines crossing mountains are all ambitious but which will be realized in the end, only time will tell.
（Image：Copelouzos）
