Power Link Between Italy and Montenegro Receives Financing Support

A proposed scheme, according to which a major power cable would be built under the Adriatic Sea, will obtain essential backing from the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD), reports UTILITYWEEK.

The transmission line would be built between Italy and Montenegro, thus it would account for the first undersea cable linking Italy with former-Yugoslavian territory.

Montenegro is undergoing an application process to become a European Union (EU) member state and has already joined the Energy Community, which makes EU energy laws applicable to the Balkans and non-EU countries to the east and north.

The EBRD has introduced a plan for a syndicated loan of €65 million to Montenegrin electricity transmission operator Crnogorski Elektroprenosni Sistem (CGES), aimed at advancing Montenegro’s power network. This network could, in such a case, successfully trade power with Italy, relying on the planned €760 million international link, set to be completed by 2015.

The project incorporates constructing a new 400/110/35 kV substation at Lastva on the Adriatic coast. Moreover, it would consolidate the existing electricity networks around Lastva and fund a new 155km 400kV line northwards to the town of Pljevlja.

The EBRD project document reads: “The investment directly supports the development of the regional electricity market in southeast Europe by putting in place the infrastructure that will allow electricity trade between the region and Italy.”