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Work on the €7bln ($8.2bln) Medlink cross-border electricity interconnection project linking Italy, Tunisia and Algeria is expected to start in 2027, according to a report by Algerian daily Elkhabar.
The project’s engineering design is complete and permitting is about to start, the report said.
In November 2024, Italy-based engineering consultancy CESI said in its Energy Journal that it is leading the feasibility phase of the Medlink project, detailing AC transmission designs for Algeria and Tunisia, mapping submarine cable routes across the Mediterranean, and planning grid integration in Italy.
Spearheaded by Italy-based private developer of clean energy projects Zhero and backed by the governments of Italy, Algeria and Tunisia, the Medlink project aims to install 10 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind capacity split equally in Algeria and Tunisia, with dedicated battery energy storage systems (BESS) to eventually produce 30 TWh/year for local use and export.
Medlink was included in the European Commission’s (EC) list of cross-border renewable energy (CB RES) projects earlier this month, making the electricity interconnector eligible to seek funding under the CB RES window of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme.
Last year, CEF had provided a €307.6 million grant to the similar 600 megawatt (MW) ELMED interconnector between Tunisia and Italy, which is expected to start operations in 2028.
A statement issued by European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency on 1 September 2025 said Medlink will export up to 22.8 TWh/year of clean electricity to Italy and onwards via two 2 GW [525 kV bipolar] HVDC interconnectors.
In Europe, Italy has cross-border electricity connections with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Montenegro, Greece and Malta.
TotalEnergies, Baker Hughes, Technip Energies, Azimut (through the fund Azimut ELTIF – Infrastructure & Real Assets ESG) and other investors had signed preliminary agreement in August 2023 to invest in Medlink's promoter Zhero to develop large scale renewable energies projects in Europe and Africa spanning across renewable power generation, interconnections and green molecules.
(Writing by Majda Muhsen; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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