Swiss-based Hitachi Energy, a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Hitachi, has been awarded a contract worth approximately €770 million to design and build the converter stations for the ELMED project, the first high-voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine power interconnection between Tunisia and Italy.
The contract was jointly awarded by Terna, Italy’s national electricity transmission grid operator, and the Société Tunisienne de l’Électricité et du Gaz (STEG) .
According to a statement from Terna, the signing finalizes the procurement process for the project’s main technological package, paving the way for what will become the first direct electrical link between Europe and North Africa.
Under the agreement, Hitachi Energy will construct both converter stations essential for the interconnector’s operation. They will be located at Partanna** in Sicily on the Italian side, and at Mlaabi in the Cap Bon peninsula on the Tunisian side.
The ELMED link will have a transmission capacity of 600 megawatts (MW) and span approximately 220 kilometers, with the majority of the route laid as submarine cable across the Strait of Sicily.
A Decade in the making, now entering construction phase
The project has been nearly a decade in the works. Initial feasibility studies began in the mid-2010s, and by 2017, ELMED was included on the European Union’s list of Projects of Common Interest (PCI) due to its strategic importance for the continent’s energy security.
In 2023, it further gained inclusion on the first list of Projects of Mutual Interest (PMI), a new status that allows third countries like Tunisia to participate in EU priority energy infrastructure.
Following the final administrative approvals from both Italy and Tunisia in 2024, and now the award of the converter station contract in June 2026, the project is officially entering its operational phase.
Commercial commissioning of this first trans-Mediterranean electricity highway is scheduled for 2028.
The ambition is threefold: boost cross-border electricity exchange, accelerate the integration of renewable energy sources, and bolster supply security on both shores of the Mediterranean.
€1.42 billion investment backed by EU and World Bank
The total investment for the ELMED interconnection now stands at approximately €1.42 billion. Of this amount, over €307 million is being funded by the European Commission through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), marking the first time such EU funding has been allocated to a project linking a member state with a non-member country.
In parallel, the World Bank has approved a $268.4 million loan to Tunisia, which will specifically finance the local converter station and the necessary reinforcement of the national grid to accommodate the new link.
With all major financing and technological components now in place, the ELMED project is poised to become a cornerstone of Euro-Mediterranean energy cooperation, bridging two continents through a shared power grid for the first time in history.
