Special side event at the Greek Pavilion under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Greece at COP28.

In front of an international audience and with Mrs. Ditte Juul Jørgensen, Director General for Energy (DG ENERGY) of the European Commission, as honorary speaker, ELICA, member of Copelouzos Group, presented the flagship project of GREGY, the electrical interconnection between Greece and Egypt project, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 28, which is taking place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In her speech, Mrs. Ditte Juul Jørgensen, underlined the importance of GREGY for Europe and the carbonization effort and its alignment with the European Union’s strategy for a faster transition to green energy, by exclusively transferring green energy produced in Egypt.

In the GREGY presentation, apart from Mrs. Ditte Juul Jørgensen, participated and addressed the audience the Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy of Greece, Mrs. Alexandra Sdoukou, the First Deputy Minister of Strategic Planning and International Cooperation of the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy of Egypt, Dr Eng Ahmed Mohammed Mohina, the Managing Director of the Renewable Sources and Energy Storage Business Unit of the Copelouzos Group & CEO of ELICA, Mr. Ioannis Karydas, the Vice President of IPTO, Mr. Ioannis Margaris, the Managing Director for Sustainable Infrastructure of the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), Mrs. Nandita Parshad, and the Acting Managing Director of EIB Global (European Investment Bank), Mr. Markus Berndt.

Greece’s electrical interconnection with Egypt, GREGY, brings Greece to the forefront of the green transition in the Mediterranean Sea, as the speakers pointed out during the special event held at the Greek Pavilion. As Mr. Ioannis Karydas noted: “We are working intensively on a project that will change the energy landscape not only for our country, but for the whole of Southeast Europe, essentially putting the Mediterranean at the forefront of the European green transition”. Mr. Karydas stressed the importance of the GREGY project for Europe in the effort to accelerate decarbonization, achievement of the necessary green transition and diversification of Europe’s energy supply sources, increasing energy security. He also referred to the next steps of the project’s development with the preparation of its final studies. He stressed that GREGY, apart from the significant energy-related, environmental, and economic benefits it will bring to Greece and the wider region, is a particularly important geopolitical project and the cornerstone for the creation of North-South corridors for the transfer of green energy.

The energy and environmental advantages of GREGY were presented by Mrs. Alexandra Sdoukou, Deputy Minister of Environment & Energy of Greece and the Vice President of IPTO, Mr. Ioannis Margaris, who referred to the key contribution of the project for the exploitation of the rich “green” potential of Egypt, in order for Europe to accelerate the carbonization of its energy mix, diversify its energy supply sources and accelerate the electrification of its economy.

IPTO, as noted by Mr. Margaris, has supported GREGY from the initial planning phases and contributes with its deep experience and expertise to the maturation of the project, in close cooperation with the Project Promoter ELICA and the Egyptian Transmission System Operator EETC, as it is the project that brings Europe closer to Egypt and provides answers to the issue of transmission network expansion, which is one of the key challenges for achieving the 2030 and 2050 climate targets.

The Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Dr. Mohamed Shaker, and the Egyptian side were represented by Dr. Mohina, First Deputy Minister of Strategic Planning and International Cooperation of the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy, who underlined Egypt’s firm support to the project and GREGY’s importance for the region.

GREGY was recently included in the European Union’s list of Projects of Mutual Interest (PMI), which is a milestone for the economic dimension of this flagship project and will contribute to its faster development, as it was pointed out in their speeches by Mrs. Nandita Parshad, Managing Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and Mr. Markus Berndt, Managing Director at the European Investment Bank.

The event was coordinated by Mr. Noam Boussidan, representative of the World Economic Forum and in the presence of many high-level guests, the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Papanastasiou, General Secretaries of Ministries, and International Organizations.