Greece and Egypt are set to sign an agreement on Thursday on a plan to build an undersea cable linking their electricity grids, a Greek energy ministry official said.
Greece is keen to connect its power grid to Egypt, where the cost of energy from solar parks is low. A memorandum of understanding between the two countries will be signed in Athens, the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The deal comes as Greece, Cyprus and Israel plan to build the Euro-Asia Interconnector, the world's longest and deepest underwater power cable crossing the Mediterranean at a cost of about $900 million.
This summer, Greece linked the island of Crete to the power grid of the Peloponnese peninsula via an undersea cable, a major step in the country's drive to cut its reliance on imported fossil fuel and boost its use of renewable energy.
Power grid operator IPTO will build a bigger 1 billion euro underwater power link that will connect Crete to the mainland grid by 2023. That project will be then linked to the planned Euro-Asia Interconnector.
