The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Greece’s transmission system operator (TSO) Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) have signed a deal for €1.9 billion financing for the development of an interconnector that will eliminate the electrical isolation of the islands of Kos, Rhodes and Karpathos.
The deal was signed on February 5 and will see the proposed EIB financing used for the IPTO Dodecanese interconnection, which will facilitate the interconnection of Kos, Rhodes and Karpathos with the Hellenic Electricity Transmission System.
More specifically, it will finance, among other things, two converter stations, respectively in Corinth and Kos, two high-voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine cables connecting Corinth and Kos, two fiber optic submarine cables, from Kos to Naxos, and from Kos to Syros, and four power and eight fiber optic submarine cables, from Kos to Rhodes, and Rhodes to Karpathos.
The total cost of the project is approximately €2.5 billion.
Besides eliminating the electrical isolation of the affected islands, the project is expected to ensure a more efficient, reliable, and clean electricity supply compared to the current reliance on local diesel or heavy fuel oil power stations, improve supply security, increase the capacity for integrating renewable energy sources in the region, and contribute to the continued economic development of the islands, particularly through tourism.
At the end of 2025, EIB also approved €490 million financing for an interconnection that will connect the island regions of Lemnos, Lesvos, Chios, Samos and Skyros to Greece’s mainland transmission grid through Nea Santa in Thrace to the north and Aliveri on Evia to the east, called the IPTO North East Aegean Interconnection project.