The second 400 kV ultra-high voltage transmission line (New Santa-Maritsa East) interconnecting Greece and Bulgaria was inaugurated at the CESEC (Central and South Eastern Europe Energy Connectivity) Ministerial Conference in Athens to strengthen the electricity network and the electricity market in Southeast Europe.
“The investment benefited from financial support of almost $31.5 million from the EU Connecting Europe Facility,” said European Union Energy Commissioner, Kadri Simson.
The transmission line started operations in summer 2023, which not only increased the scope for energy exchanges between Greece and Bulgaria but also boosted cross-border trade and energy security in SE Europe and the Balkans.
"With the second interconnection between Greece and Bulgaria, the maximum nominal energy exchange margin between the two countries now amounts to 1.7 GW,” said the Minister of Environment and Energy, Theodore Skylakakis. “In the future we envision a new 2 GW DC interconnection between Greece and Bulgaria, which will transfer even larger amounts of green energy from Greece, but also electricity from the Bulgarian side."
“With the new electricity interconnection between Greece and Bulgaria we have now increased by 500 MW the scope for energy exchanges between the two countries,” said the Chairman and CEO of IPTO, Manos Manousakis.
The second interconnection project was included in the Ten-Year Development Program of ENTSO-E from the beginning of its planning and is also in the list of Projects of Common Interest of the European Union.
