One of the major milestones in the Crete-Attica electricity interconnection project, the laying and installation of all the 500 kV direct current technology submarine cables, was successfully completed in the previous days by IPTO’s subsidiary company Ariadni Interconnection.
In the 32 months since the signing of the contracts for the major energy project, in June 2020, Ariadni Interconnection has laid a total of approximately 1,350 km of electric and fibre optic cables between Korakia, Heraklion and Pachi, Megara. The depth of the installation at the bottom of the Aegean reached up to 1,200 meters from the sea surface, while the weight of the cables exceeds 40 kg per meter.
With the completion of the cable protection works, expected in the second quarter of 2023, 640 km will have been laid below the seabed surface for maximum safety.
The electrical cables were laid in stages from the end of 2021 until the beginning of 2023, in the context of three different operations by the two contracting companies of the project.
For these operations, which had particularly high technical requirements, a total of five specialized cable work ships were used, including the two most state-of-the-art cable laying ships in the world, Aurora and Leonardo da Vinci.
For the successful laying of the submarine cables, from October 2020 to May 2021, a thorough seabed study had been carried out by the contracting companies Prysmian and Nexans, and the optimal routing and protection of the cables was scheduled based on both technical and environmental criteria.
The electrical interconnection of Crete with Attica is the largest energy investment, amounting to EUR 1 billion, currently being carried out in Greece, through which IPTO will fully integrate Crete into the mainland electricity transmission system, by the end of 2024.
