Work on Montenegro-Italy undersea power cable begins in Montenegrin waters

The first metre of an undersea power cable, to link Montenegro and Italy, has been laid on the Montenegrin side of the Adriatic, the government in Podgorica said on Tuesday.

Italian electricity transmission system operator Terna and Montenegro's majority state-owned power transmission system operator Crnogorski Elektroprenosni Sistem have begun the construction of the link in the municipality of Budva, the Montenegrin government said in a press release.

The Italian side has already installed 136 km of the undersea cable starting in Pescara. The total planned length of the electricity is 455 km.

The entire project, expected to cost 800 million euro ($893.4 million), should be completed by the end of 2018.

After the link is commissioned, Montenegro will earn substantial revenues based on CGES's share in the cable's total capacity - 20% of the installed 1,000 megawatts, the government said.

Montenegrin officials have previously said that this project will place Montenegro at the centre of energy flows between Italy and Western Europe.

The cable should enable Montenegro to export energy from renewable sources to Italy. The accord is part of a larger inter-governmental agreement between Italy and Montenegro initiated in December 2007.

($=0.896482 euro)

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