EU Ambassador to Georgia: bloc “strongly supports” Black Sea submarine cable project

Herczyński said the project was a “huge investment” and would “significantly change” electricity generation and transmission between the South Caucasus and the EU, noting the bloc wanted the project to have a regional scale. Photo via Ministry of Economy

Agenda.ge, 06 Apr 2023 - 18:35, Tbilisi,Georgia

The European Union “strongly supports” the Black Sea submarine cable project, a new transmission route to deliver green energy from Azerbaijan to Europe, and hopes the South Caucasus will become a “very important” source of energy for Europe, Paweł Herczyński, the Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia, said on Thursday.

Herczyński said the project was a “huge investment” and would “significantly change” electricity generation and transmission between the South Caucasus and the EU, noting the bloc wanted the project to have a regional scale.

We sincerely hope that in a few years the South Caucasus will become a very important source of energy for the European Union. It will take some time, because we are talking about a huge project, but we would like it to be implemented as soon as possible”, the diplomat added.

Officials from Georgia, Azerbaijan, Romania and Hungary on Thursday met in Tbilisi to discuss various stages of the implementation of the project.

The project was launched by officials of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary and Romania in December in Bucharest, with the initiative aiming to connect energy grids of Georgia and the South Caucasus to that of Romania, allowing export of green energy to Europe and strengthening of mutual resilience.

After implementation, the 1,195 km long cable - with 1,100 km of its length laid underwater - will enable the countries of the South Caucasus and Romania to take advantage of broadened export opportunities and also trade in electricity at hourly market prices, initiators of the project have said.

Georgian State Electrosystem, along with Italian consulting company CESI, is carrying out a technical and economic study of the project. Environmental and social impact assessment and geophysical and geotechnical studies of the Black Sea bed will also be carried out to establish possibilities and best ways of practical implementation of the project.