The acceleration of the Greece-Italy electricity interconnector project, being jointly developed by IPTO and Terna, was discussed by the operator’s vice-president and general manager for technology, system development and strategy, Ioannis Margaris, in remarks at the 8th Renewable & Storage Forum.
He said cooperation between the two operators had made clear that work to advance the project was progressing rapidly, with international tenders for the cable systems and converter stations targeted for summer 2027.
Seabed surveys will begin early next year, while permitting procedures and technical specifications are being prepared for a project he described as “one of the very important ones” among our international interconnections.
Mr Margaris said these developments meant construction of the interconnector was expected to begin in 2028.
The IPTO vice-president also discussed the changes that technology and the energy transition are bringing to the way the electricity system is planned, developed and maintained.
IPTO and other European operators are focusing on new “smart” materials and operational technologies that increase the capacity of existing infrastructure, in light of the data and the permitting and environmental constraints on building new electricity transmission lines.
“We are looking internationally at how we can increase the capacity of lines, ideally without even having to replace pylons. Projects of this kind are at the cutting edge of transmission-system development worldwide,” he said.
IPTO is also carrying out a broad programme of gradual replacement of critical equipment across the country while the network remains in operation, with upgrades that enhance its resilience as well as its capacity.
On data centres, Mr Margaris noted that their rapid growth meant their technical requirements and connection constraints had not yet been fully defined at European level.
These rules are being developed both nationally and in cooperation with ENTSO-E.
“We are very interested in the issue of flexible loads,” he added, explaining that electricity systems are now being designed in a fundamentally different way from in the past, moving away from guaranteed uptake towards flexible technical solutions for controlling generation and consumption.
On this basis, he estimated that data centres would have a decisive influence on how the system operates in the future.