The governments of Cyprus and Lebanon, as well as the World Bank, on Thursday agreed to prepare a preliminary feasibility study regarding the possibility of the connection of the two countries’ electricity grids.

The agreement was reached by Cypriot Energy Minister Michael Damianos and his Lebanese counterpart Joseph Al-Saddi, with both governments saying that it “marks an important milestone in the cooperation between the two countries”.

They said it is “aimed at exploring opportunities to strengthen regional energy connectivity, enhance energy security, and promote sustainable economic development in the eastern Mediterranean”.

Additionally, they expressed their “appreciation” to the World Bank for its “continued support” for the plans, as well as its “valuable contribution in advancing this strategic initiative”.

“In this context, the ministers have endorsed the World Bank’s proposed phased approach for conducting this study,” they said.

This methodology, they said, will first entail an “evaluation of the balance between electricity supply and demand” and a “high-level economic analysis” under “agreed scenarios”.

“Subject to positive findings, the work will then proceed to a detailed techno-economic prefeasibility assessment,” it said, before adding that both ministers had emphasised that this sequential approach would enable informed decision-making at each stage.

Additionally, they said, the agreed-upon method will ensure “that subsequent analyses are grounded in robust technical and economic evidence”.

They went on to say that the two governments will establish a “joint steering technical committee” for the project, which will “work closely” with the World Bank.

“The two ministers express confidence that the prefeasibility assessment will provide a sound basis for evaluating the viability of an electricity interconnection between Cyprus and Lebanon and will contribute to broader efforts to strengthen regional energy cooperation in the eastern Mediterranean,” they said.

Lebanon, like Cyprus, is isolated from neighbouring grids, though Lebanon signed a deal with Syria on July 2 with the aim of creating an electricity interconnection between the two countries, and two plans to connect Cyprus’ grid with its neighbours have already been put forward, though only one of those has been endorsed by the Republic of Cyprus.

The plan endorsed by the Republic of Cyprus is named the Great Sea Interconnector, and will, if completed, link the energy grids of Cyprus, Greece and Israel.

Its latest development of note saw the governments of Greece and Cyprus send a joint letter to the European Investment Bank to request a new diligence study, with a view to possibly requesting funding for the project’s completion may be provided by the Luxembourg-based bank in due course.

The project has also won the endorsement of the European Commission, with Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen telling the Cyprus Mail that it constitutes a “key strategic link” which will end Cyprus’ energy isolation”, “secure the stability of the electrical network throughout the entire island”, and “fundamentally, lower energy prices”.

“Beyond Cyprus, this is a project which can really enhance the regional security of supply and market integration, as well as accelerating the integration of cheap and sustainable renewable energy in the eastern Mediterranean,” he said.

The other planned interconnection project, touted by Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot authorities, foresaw that an undersea cable would be built to link the island’s energy grid with that of Turkey.

However, the European network of transmission system operators for electricity (Entso-E) has not included plans for a cable linking Turkey and Cyprus in its ten-year development plan, and said that the Great Sea Interconnector “is the only interconnector project connecting the Republic of Cyprus” in its plans.

It added that it “will not consider any project for inclusion in the [development plan] that would be proposed or developed without the consent of the Cyprus [transmission system operator] TSO”.

It added that the Republic of Cyprus’ TSO is “the sole transmission system operator certified for the entire territory of the Republic of Cyprus under EU law”.