Elmed interconnector aims to bring solar power from the Sahara to Europe

On April 30, the governments of Italy and Tunisia signed a deal to lay an underwater power cable between Partanna, Sicily and El Haouaria, Tunisia, aiming to integrate the EU's electricity grid with that of North Africa. A long time in the works, Italian transmission company Terna and Tunisian gas and electricity group STEG have been developing the so-called Elmed Mediterranean power interconnector since 2003.
Speaking of Desertec and such, how fares solar thermal in Spain
[...]
Elmed is currently on the third list of EU Projects of Common Interest (PCI), which includes key infrastructure projects that can benefit from accelerated planning and permit granting...."The EIB is in continuous contact with most project promoters of large scale renewable energy projects and would consider possible financing as the two schemes develop," an EIB source told DW, referring to the Elmed as much as to the TuNur project -- a solar power project presented in 2017, which aims at exporting 4.5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy through undersea cables to Malta, Italy and France.
[...]
Elmed would not only diversify supply sources and routes for Europeans, but also increase Tunisia's energy security, the [World] bank said. That is because the project, which was originally conceived in 2003 to export solar power generated in the Sahara to Italy, is now designed to be bidirectional.
[...]
A second reason for support for Elmed is that it fits into the European Union's strategy for Africa. Apart from already established ties with Morocco, such as electricity interconnections between Spain and Morocco, European institutions are now focusing on the Sahel area and Tunisia.

The ACP does not include North African countries, and Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia, all of whom have been in talks with Brussels about `cash for migrants' arrangements, modelled on the EU's accord with Turkey, do not want to be part of it.

archived since jesus on a stick with wheels
Massive Saharan Solar & Wind Farms
making rain
TuNur in Tunisia: Another case of energy colonialism
Desert solar project could power 5 million EU homes
Italy and Malta's energy grids are already connected
Some good discussion about Desertec we had here.
Who is "they?"
the north Africans who TuNur is fronting
Siemens CEO badmouths Energiewende
(note to Joe: the Sahara is probably too dry for pineapple plantations)

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.