- The Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (MASE) has approved the construction of the Elmed project.
- The ELMED Interconnector will enable renewable energy transmission, supporting Tunisia’s sustainable development and climate change strategy.
The Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (MASE) has approved the construction of the Elmed project, which will create a 600-MW interconnection between Italy and Tunisia.
The EUR-850-million (USD 920.2m) project will allow Italy to strengthen its role as an electricity hub in Europe and the Mediterranean and become an international key player, the Italian government said.
About EUR 307 million of the total project funding will come from the European Commission as grant funding. Italian power grid operator Terna and its Tunisian counterpart STEG will execute the ELMED project.
Construction on the project may start in 2024 and be completed in 2028. A 500kV/600MW subsea HVDC cable will connect the Partanna electrical substation in Trapani (Sicily) with a newly built substation in Menzel Temime (Mlaaba), the Cape Bon peninsula in Tunisia.
The project’s critical infrastructure will include undersea cable routes, converter stations, and underground onshore cables. It would also include two electrode lines to connect the electrodes laid in the seabed.
A new 400kV overhead transmission line (OHTL) will also be built to connect the interconnector to the Tunisian grid. This double-circuit 120km long OHTL will run from the new HVDC converter station to the Mornaguia electrical substation in Tunisia.
Once complete, the ELMED Interconnector will enable renewable energy transmission, supporting Tunisia’s sustainable development and climate change strategy. The project will also allow Tunisia to export electricity to other North African countries in the long run.
It will also increase the exchange of electricity generated via renewable sources and support energy transition by lowering carbon dioxide emissions by more than 200 tonnes per annum.