The doubling of the Villanova-Kotar submarine power line, built by Terna and connecting Italy and Montenegro, "represents an opportunity, a choice". This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, in his speech at the second edition of the Italy-Montenegro Energy Table in Podgorica.
"As a country with a strong industrial vocation, we know how important the cost of energy is", Tajani began, according to whom for Italy "the energy issue is fundamental for the competitiveness of its entire industrial system" and at the same time risks jeopardizing the competitiveness of the entire European system which, for its part, "must take a few steps forward to complete the single energy market".
"It seems to me that we are going in the right direction", added Tajani again regarding the doubling of the power line cable, adding that the partnership between Italy and Montenegro is "a great success story".
The Italy-Montenegro Energy Table wants to address the issue of the evolution of the Montenegrin energy market, in view of its integration (the so-called 'coupling') with Italy, and to verify the results obtained thanks to the electrical interconnection between the two countries following the laying of the submarine cable in 2019. The hope is to be able to arrive as soon as possible at the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation between the governments of Italy and Montenegro, precisely with the aim, in this way, of favoring the coupling of the two energy markets.
Italy and Montenegro are linked by an electricity interconnection cable (445 km submarine cable with a capacity of 600 MW), built by Terna and inaugurated on 15 November 2019 in the presence of Presidents Mattarella and Ðukanović.
The doubling of the power line is planned in the future, through the laying of a second cable for a further 600 MW following the completion of the necessary grid reinforcements in the Balkans, to be completed by 2027. The laying of the second cable of the interconnection would make Montenegro a real energy hub of the Western Balkans region, making it possible to further strengthen European energy security through greater integration of the region's electricity systems.
