The Vertical Corridor puts Greece in a leading position, and Europe in a leading position more broadly, US Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA) in an interview posted Sunday.
Pyatt was speaking to ANA-MPA and journalist Sophia Papadopoulou from Washington on his recent visit to Athens for the REPowerEU Diversification Workshop by the European Commission and the Greek Environment and Energy Ministry on the project that aims to boost energy security and infrastructure in Southeast and Central Europe. It was attended by ministers and energy leaders from Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Croatia, Austria, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, Ukraine.
The State Department official said that the US saw the Vertical Corridor as “a project that can be accomplished with very low capital expenditure, but will have a significant return on investment in terms of building energy security for the wider region.”
Referring to his contacts, Pyatt said that “the main takeaway from my regional conversations on this is the importance of having the various TSOs (transmission system operators), the gas transmission companies, working together to create what they call ‘a pancake tariff’ so that you don’t have companies that want to take advantage of this vertical corridor or are having to pay separate tariffs at each stage of the process, which makes it uneconomical.”
Speaking of his “excellent talks” in Athens with Environment and Energy Minister Thodoros Skylakakis, Deputy Minister Alexandra Sdoukou, Foreign Affairs Minister George Gerapetritis, Professor Thanos Dokos, national security advisor the the prime minister, and others, Pyatt said, “Greece’s role is more important than ever, both in terms of its leadership on energy transition, the huge growth that’s happening in renewable generation, wind, solar, leadership in new areas like clean hydrogen, but also a really, really important regional role.”
From his talks in Athens, he noted “a consistent message across the board there in terms of Greece’s determination to exercise leadership” as well as “the really dramatic transformation of Greece’s role as this key energy hub for the European Union and for Southeastern Europe.” He also highlighted the convergence between the US vision that the Secretary Antony Blinken is advancing, and its convergence with what Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is leading
Pyatt also expresssed his satisfaction over statements by EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson, who strongly supports a full decoupling from Russian energy supplies, as well as the stance of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on ending any further dependence on Russian energy in the entire EU. “The vertical corridor is an essential element of that, vis-a-vis the countries of Southeastern Europe, Bulgaria, Romania, up into Hungary, up into Ukraine, and then leveraging Ukraine’s significant gas storage capacity to create an alternative architecture of gas supply across that Southeastern Europe region,” he said
Greece a European success story
While in Greece, Pyatt also attended an event by the Atlantic Council, where PM Mitsotakis received the Global Citizen Award from Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, both of whome he spoke with. He said he had thanked Mitsotakis for his leadership and Greece’s leadership on Ukraine, and heard Bourla say that Pfizer’s experience in Thessaloniki was “incredibly positive.”
Speaking of Greece, the former ambassador to Greece said the country “has gone through a reputational transformation. It’s seen as a European success story now, and that produces benefits as well on the investment side.” He also underlined Greece’s role in clean energy: “Greece is really setting itself apart with Greece’s world-leading status on clean energy and Greece’s leadership within the European Union on clean energy, something that the Deputy Director General from DG Energy made very clear in his remarks when we were together in Athens.”
The US Assistant Secretary for Energy also spoke of the prospects of boosting American investments in Greece, particularly in renewable energy and digital development. Greece’s transformation into a digital hub in southeastern Europe could also help would help Greece’s desire to become a digital hub in Europe “building connectivity to the Gulf region through projects with Cyprus, projects like the IMEC Corridor, which has a natural nexus with Greece as well.”
Speaking of Alexandroupolis, which he visited several times as ambassador, Pyatt noted, “We see Alexandroupolis as a transformative project that is already changing the geography of energy security in the Western Balkans and beyond.
That was reflected in the presence of the Bulgarian Energy Minister in Athens, Bulgaria’s stake in the project.” He made particular note of the presence at REPowerEU of Bulgaria, as well as the Serbian government’s efforts to reduce its dependence on a single country for its energy.
Greece and Gaza
Pyatt also referred to the situation in the Middle East and said that once the violence in Israel, Lebanon, and Gaza ends, “Greece is going to play an absolutely central role.” As he explained, “An important Greek role in the day after planning process for Gaza, recognising that the main Gaza power plant, which has not been operational for several months now, is run by an Athens-based company, CCC. And that when we get to the task of reconstruction, the focus for everybody, including, I think, the Palestinians, is going to be build a future energy system which is cleaner and more sustainable. So more gas, more solar, more wind, more renewables. So there’s a natural role for Greece and Greek companies to play in that regard.” In that sense, he said Greece’s Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) is “already playing a leading role in the Great Sea interconnector.”
SOURCE; ANA-MPA
