News round-up, March 2, 2023 by Germán & Co

By the way, on the enigmatic Havana Syndrome… 

…”Cuba was amid that real litmus test christened the "Special Period." It was a challenging time that drastically affected the island's constantly tormented macro-economy. The entire country was in total rationing, exacerbated by the suspension of aid from the collapsed Soviet Union in 1989.  Without exaggeration, everyone was essentially walking. A few people rode bicycles. The majority of patients anticipated the miracle of a sporadic "camel" appearing. 

Cubans created the "camels" during the "Special Period." They were camel-shaped, enormously long buses that were being pulled by a trailer truck. I had an odd sighting the day before.

One of those events occurred that nobody could have predicted or expected. At the Hotel Nacional "Comedor de Aguiar" in Havana, I would have lunch.  The dining room of the Hotel Nacional is an immense rectangular space; its lateral borders are arches and a carved wooden ceiling. The atmosphere is fantastic, but what's most amazing is how often it was empty. 

But on that day, the "Comedor de Aguiar" had been hijacked by about 70 or so Jews worldwide. It was an occasion to celebrate and to meet their fellow Cubans. The Jewish colony of Cuba distinguished itself without difficulty from the rest of its paisanos (countrymen). From their excited faces, they were all young people and were even incredulous at such an occasion. Each one, of course, wore the kippah, a tiny cap worn by male Jews at the peak of their heads. They wore it with great pride, accompanied by their girlfriends or wives. As in every Jewish party, dancing and singing were necessary. And then came "The Hour," the most famous dance in Jewish tradition. So on that Monday at noon, the spirit of Lecuona graciously gave the soul of the "Aguiar" to the Hebrew visitors.  

With these fresh images, I remember that the newspaper Granma announced the visit of John Paul II to Cuba. I needed to see the cathedral. So I set off for Old Havana. I walked through the small Plaza de Armas, crowded with people; I wandered through its stalls, arcades, lucetas, and sun gates.  Then I looked at the baroque façade of the cathedral, which was contradictorily naked and comprised of various lines and columns. The air was infused with port, cleaning products, vital mud, and tropical fruits. Time, the ongoing crises, salt, and the murmur of the sea, which is disturbed and causes waves to crash on the seawall, all corroded the nearby structures. 

The owners of —No Man's Land — and Other Stories by Germán & Co, 2013

Most read…

Havana syndrome’ not caused by energy weapon or foreign adversary, intelligence review finds

After a years-long assessment, five U.S. intelligence agencies conclude it is ‘very unlikely’ an enemy wielding a secret weapon was behind the mysterious ailment 

  WP by Shane Harris  and  John Hudson, March 1, 2023. 

In Beijing, Belarusian President Lukashenko approves Chinese plan to resolve 'Ukrainian crisis'

The West sees the meeting of the Belarusian leader, an ally of Moscow, with Xi Jinping as a new sign of support for Russia.

  Le Monde by Frédéric Lemaître (Beijing (China) correspondent on March 2, 2023 

Why Greta Thunberg and Other Climate Activists Are Protesting Wind Farms in Norway

Norway is leading the green transition by promoting sustainable energy sources that require more land, such as coastal wind, electric grid expansions, mines, batteries and electric vehicles and forestry initiatives. Since 2018, the nation's onshore wind capacity has increased by three times to 4.8 GW, whit Europe's largest onshore wind project, including the two Fosen wind farms.  

  The New Yorker bY CIARA NUGENT,  FEBrUARY 28, 2023 

Breakthrough close on France-Spain undersea electricity link -sources

The interconnection would enable the two nations to quadruple their energy exchange capacity to 5,000 megawatts, enough to power 5 million homes. It had been planned to be built by the power grid operators RTE of France and REE of Spain by 2025. 

  REUTERS BY BELÉN CARREÑO, , BENJAMIN MALLET AND KATE ABNETT

Havana syndrome’ not caused by energy weapon or foreign adversary, intelligence review finds

After a years-long assessment, five U.S. intelligence agencies conclude it is ‘very unlikely’ an enemy wielding a secret weapon was behind the mysterious ailment 

  WP BY SHANE HARRIS  AND  JOHN HUDSON, MARCH 1, 2023. 

The mysterious ailment known as “Havana syndrome” did not result from the actions of a foreign adversary, according to an intelligence report that shatters a long-disputed theory that hundreds of U.S. personnel were targeted and sickened by a clandestine enemy wielding energy waves as a weapon.

The new intelligence assessment caps a years-long effort by the CIA and several other U.S. intelligence agencies to explain why career diplomats, intelligence officers and others serving in U.S. missions around the world experienced what they described as strange and painful acoustic sensations. The effects of this mysterious trauma shortened careers, racked up large medical bills and in some cases caused severe physical and emotional suffering.

What to know about ‘Havana syndrome’

Many of the afflicted personnel say they were the victims of a deliberate attack — possibly at the hands of Russia or another adversarial government — a claim that the report contradicts in nearly every respect, according to two intelligence officials who are familiar with the assessment and described it to The Washington Post.

Seven intelligence agencies participated in the review of approximately 1,000 cases of “anomalous health incidents,” the term the government uses to describe a constellation of physical symptoms including ringing in the ears followed by pressure in the head and nausea, headaches and acute discomfort.

Five of those agencies determined it was “very unlikely” that a foreign adversary was responsible for the symptoms, either as the result of purposeful actions — such as a directed energy weapon — or as the byproduct of some other activity, including electronic surveillance that unintentionally could have made people sick, the officials said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the findings of the assessment, which had not yet been made public.

One agency, which the officials did not name, determined that it was “unlikely” that a foreign actor was at fault, a slightly less emphatic finding that did not appreciably change the consensus. One agency abstained in its conclusion regarding a foreign actor. But when asked, no agency dissented from the conclusion that a foreign actor did not cause the symptoms, one of the intelligence officials said.

The symptoms were first reported at the U.S. Embassy in Havana in 2016.

The officials said that as analysts examined clusters of reported cases, including at U.S. embassies, they found no pattern or common set of conditions that could link individual cases. They also found no evidence, including forensic information or geolocation data, that would suggest an adversary had used a form of directed energy such as radio waves or ultrasonic beams. In some cases, there was no “direct line of sight” to affected personnel working at U.S. facilities, further casting doubt on the possibility that a hypothetical energy weapon could have been the culprit, one of the officials said.

One of the officials said that even in geographic locations where U.S. intelligence effectively had total ability to monitor the environment for signs of malicious interference, analysts found no evidence of an adversary targeting personnel.

“There was nothing,” the official said. This person added that there was no intelligence that foreign leaders, including in Russia, had any knowledge of or had authorized an attack on U.S. personnel that could explain the symptoms.

The second official, who described a frustrating “mystery” as to why longtime colleagues had become ill, said analysts spent months churning data, looking for patterns and inventing new analytic methodologies, only to come up with no single plausible explanation.

Both officials said the intelligence community remained open to new ideas and evidence. For instance, if information emerged that a foreign adversary had made progress developing the technology for an energy weapon, that might cause analysts to adjust their assessments.

But they essentially foreclosed the possibility that Russia or another adversarial government or nonstate actor was behind the mysterious syndrome.

“One always wants to be humble,” one official said. “And we looked at what [additional information] we would need” to change the conclusions. The official added that some work on finding a source for the health conditions continues, notably at the Defense Department, and that intelligence agencies were prepared to lend their support to that effort.

In a statement, CIA Director William J. Burns said analysts had conducted “one of the largest and most intensive investigations in the Agency’s history. I and my leadership team stand firmly behind the work conducted and the findings.”

Current and former CIA personnel who have suffered symptoms have praised Burns for ensuring their claims were taken seriously and that they received medical treatment, whether or not their illness could be attributed to a foreign actor or any other cause.

“I want to be absolutely clear: these findings do not call into question the experiences and real health issues that US Government personnel and their family members — including CIA’s own officers — have reported while serving our country,” Burns said. “We will continue to remain alert to any risks to the health and wellbeing of Agency officers, to ensure access to care, and to provide officers the compassion and respect they deserve.”

“Needless to say, these findings do not call into question the very real experiences and symptoms that our colleagues and their family members have reported,” Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said in a statement.

The intelligence assessment also examined whether an adversary possessed a device capable of using energy to cause the reported symptoms. Of the seven agencies, five determined that it was “very unlikely,” while the other two said it was “unlikely.”

Over the years, government agencies including the State Department and FBI were unable to substantiate the use of an energy weapon.

But the new assessment is at odds with the view of an independent panel of experts, which last year found that an external energy source plausibly could explain the symptoms. The panel, which was convened by the intelligence community, suggested that a foreign power could have harnessed “pulsed electromagnetic energy” that made people sick.

The expert panel’s findings also were consistent with earlier conclusions of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, which found that “directed, pulsed radio frequency energy appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases.”

David Relman, who headed the National Academies investigation and co-chaired the intelligence community experts panel, and had not reviewed the final intelligence assessment, said the energy weapon hypothesis remains viable.

“There are multiple possible explanations for the apparent discrepancy between the failure to identify a malefactor and the plausibility of directed energy as a mechanism. One should not necessarily discount the latter,” Relman told The Post.

The new intelligence report may represent the official word on the strange health ailment, but it probably won’t be the last word on the matter.

Representatives and lawyers for people suffering with symptoms lambasted the new report as incomplete and opaque. They called on intelligence agencies to disclose more information about how they reached their conclusions and to investigate other leads they said remained poorly examined.

“Until the shrouds of secrecy are lifted and the analysis that led to today’s assertions are available and subject to proper challenge, the alleged conclusions are substantively worthless,” Mark S. Zaid, an attorney representing more than two dozen people experiencing symptoms, said in a statement.

An advocacy group composed of current and former officials also took aim at the intelligence report’s findings, saying it “does not track with our lived experiences, nor does it account for what many medical professionals across multiple institutions have found in working with us. Our doctors have determined that environmental or preexisting medical issues did not cause the symptoms and traumatic injuries to our neurological systems that many of us have been diagnosed with,” the group Advocacy for Victims of Havana Syndrome said in a statement.

Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio) and Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the leaders of the House Intelligence Committee, stopped short of endorsing the report, but didn’t dispute its findings. In a statement they said would “seek to ensure the review was conducted with the highest degree of analytical rigor and that it considered all the available intelligence and perspectives, documenting all substantial differences in analysis.”

Some current and former officials whose conditions remained unexplained say that the CIA and other intelligence agencies did not sufficiently investigate the possibility that an energy weapon was used against them. They argue that analysts could have done more to find correlations between, say, the travel histories of suspected Russian intelligence operatives and the times and places where symptoms were reported.

Intelligence officials counter that analysts looked closely at that possibility and devoted extraordinary resources to the search for a possible cause. A dedicated group staffed by seasoned analysts and led by a senior CIA officer was set up to study the issue. People involved in the analysis have described it as the most complex and difficult challenge of their careers. In the end, they found no pattern to connect reported cases to a potential cause.

The CIA and other agencies also devoted more resources to providing medical care for afflicted personnel, a move that some sufferers applauded, saying that in the first years that symptoms were reported, they were treated skeptically by their managers and medical experts.

A senior official said on Wednesday that the Biden administration would continue to ensure personnel receive medical care and that it would process requests under a law that compensates government employees who experienced symptoms and in some cases had to stop working. Some individuals will be eligible for payments in the six-figure range.

“Nothing is more important than the health and wellbeing of our workforce,” Maher Bitar, the senior director for intelligence programs on the National Security Council, said in a statement.

“Since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, we have focused on ensuring that our colleagues have access to the care and support they need. … Our commitment to the health and safety of U.S. Government personnel remains unwavering,” said Bitar, who is the interagency coordinator for the response to anomalous health incidents.

Early in the Biden administration, officials encouraged government employees who thought they were experiencing symptoms associated with the health incidents to come forward. That, the intelligence officials acknowledged, led to a flood of reported cases, most of which were attributed to other factors, such as preexisting medical conditions.

The final report’s conclusions are in keeping with an earlier interim assessment by the same group of agencies, which found that the health incidents probably were not the work of another country mounting a global attack.

“We assess it is unlikely that a foreign actor, including Russia, is conducting a sustained, worldwide campaign harming U.S. personnel with a weapon or mechanism,” a senior CIA official said at the time.

Intelligence analysts had reviewed cases that were reported on every continent except Antarctica. The vast majority of them were attributed to preexisting medical conditions or environmental or other factors, the official said.

The earlier, interim assessment had left open the possibility that a few dozen individuals whose symptoms remained unexplained, which the official called “the toughest cases,” might have been targeted in isolated attacks. “Our work is continuing, and we are not done yet,” the official said at the time.

Many of those afflicted were serving in U.S. embassies or diplomatic facilities or were traveling overseas when they fell ill. Children of U.S. government personnel also have reported symptoms.

But in the end, the final intelligence report found that medical experts could not attribute the symptoms to an external cause separate from a preexisting condition or environmental factors, including conditions such as clogged air ducts in office buildings that could cause headaches, the officials aid.

Over time, the state of medical understanding about the condition has evolved in ways that point away from a foreign adversary’s involvement, the officials said.

State Department personnel serving in U.S. embassies are among those who have reported symptoms over the years.Despite the new conclusions, Secretary of State Antony Blinken remains of the view that something happened to those employees who have reported significant ailments, and he is committed to making sure they are cared for, said a person familiar with Blinken’s thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a divisive topic within the department.

Blinken has long doubted that personnel are suffering from mass hysteria or some psychogenic event, officials have said. Previous investigations, notably by the FBI, had raised the possibility that the symptoms had a psychological origin, not a physical one, outraging many sufferers who felt their pain had been marginalized and their claims not taken seriously by medical personnel. Experts have emphasized that even if the illnesses were psychogenic, that doesn’t mean sufferers are imagining their symptoms.

“Those who have been affected have real stories to tell — their pain is real,” Blinken wrote to all U.S. diplomats when the CIA previewed its interim findings. “There is no doubt in my mind about that.” Blinken called the symptoms described by people he met with as “gut wrenching.”

The independent experts panel also cast doubt on a psychological cause. “Psychosocial factors alone cannot account for the core characteristics, although they may cause some other incidents or contribute to long-term symptoms,” they wrote.

Some proponents of the hypothesis that a foreign actor is to blame and who were familiar with the new report’s findings said they felt frustrated and weren’t ready to abandon the possibility that a foreign government, probably Russia, was at work. They have pointed out that the drop in recent reported symptoms has coincided with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, suggesting that the Kremlin’s resources were spread too thin to continue a possible campaign against U.S. personnel.

“The timing is deeply suspicious,” a State Department official said.

There have been no accounts of Russia introducing a new type of energy weapon on the battlefield in Ukraine.

At the height of public concern about Havana syndrome, U.S. officials who questioned or were even neutral on the possible cause faced significant scrutiny.

The CIA recalled its top officer in Vienna in 2021 after he was accused of not taking claims seriously enough, among other criticisms.

Also that year, the State Department’s top official overseeing cases, Ambassador Pamela Spratlen, left her position after six months amid calls for her resignation. Spratlen had held a teleconference with sufferers who asked about the FBI study that determined that the symptoms were psychogenic. Spratlen declined to say whether she believed the FBI study was accurate, angering diplomats who say their symptoms are the result of an attack, said people familiar with the matter.

Devlin Barrett contributed to this report.

In Beijing, Belarusian President Lukashenko approves Chinese plan to resolve 'Ukrainian crisis'

The West sees the meeting of the Belarusian leader, an ally of Moscow, with Xi Jinping as a new sign of support for Russia.

  LE MONDE BY FRÉDÉRIC LEMAÎTRE (BEIJING (CHINA) CORRESPONDENT ON MARCH 2, 2023 

The Belarusian President Lukashenko began a three-day state visit to China, during which he was received on Wednesday, March 1, by President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang. "Belarus is actively campaigning for peace proposals and fully supports your initiative for international security," Lukashenko assured his hosts, according to the official Belarusian news agency Belta.

On February 24, Beijing published its "position for a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis," which calls for a ceasefire and negotiations. This very general document, which China itself does not call a "peace plan," was rejected by the West. The reason is because it does not name Moscow as the aggressor in the war in Ukraine. Russia waited three days before Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made a statement on February 27. "For the time being, we do not see the beginnings of a peaceful path for this matter. (...)

The special military operation [in Ukraine] is continuing." For Lukashenko, his visit to China "is taking place during a very difficult period that requires new and unusual approaches and responsible political decisions. They should seek above all to avoid a global confrontation that will have no winners."

In power since July 1994, Lukashenko is on his thirteenth visit to China. In September 2022, the two countries decided to raise their relationship to the level of a "comprehensive strategic partnership under all conditions." The West fears that this new visit could be an opportunity for Beijing to support Russia indirectly by helping a nearby country that is also subject to sanctions. According to the Chinese daily Global Times, agreements are expected to be signed in many areas: "politics, economy, trade, finance, industry, agriculture, science and technology, sports, tourism, health, interregional cooperation and the media."

'Many Chinese investments in Belarus'

At a time when the United States believes that China is "considering" selling arms to Russia, could these arms come through Belarus? Officially, this does not seem to be the case. But cooperation between the two countries was extended to military equipment a few years ago. According to the online magazine The Diplomat, Belarus announced in 2017 that Beijing was delivering new armored trucks.

Russia and China established diplomatic ties in 1995, which have grown stronger since Xi took office in late 2012. That same year, the two countries announced the construction of an industrial park of more than 110 square kilometers on the outskirts of Minsk, with tax incentives. Then Belarus was one of the first countries to join China's "New Silk Road" investment program, launched in September 2013.

"There are many Chinese investments in Belarus," said Zhao Long, a professor at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. "The bilateral relationship does not depend solely on what happens in Russia, although the Belarusian president expects China to help him mitigate the effect of Western sanctions, including through loans. This visit should not be seen as indirect support for Moscow. Besides, Lukashenko, unlike Russia, is in favor of a cease-fire."

Since his hotly contested reelection in August 2020, Lukashenko has violently repressed all those who denounced the election. This has made a significant number of civil society activists go into exile. While the Belarusian leader has been a pariah in Europe since then, China obviously does not have the same reservations about him. Lukashenko is visiting Beijing a few days after the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raissi.

Cooperate with objective and ethical thinking…

Why Greta Thunberg and Other Climate Activists Are Protesting Wind Farms in Norway

Norway is leading the green transition by promoting sustainable energy sources that require more land, such as coastal wind, electric grid expansions, mines, batteries and electric vehicles and forestry initiatives. Since 2018, the nation's onshore wind capacity has increased by three times to 4.8 GW, whit Europe's largest onshore wind project, including the two Fosen wind farms.  

  THE NEW YORKER BY CIARA NUGENT,  FEBRUARY 28, 2023 

The scene in downtown Oslo this week is hardly unusual in the era of climate protest: chained to doorways and bundled up in thick blankets, Greta Thunberg and dozens of other young activists are blocking the entrance to Norway’s energy and finance ministries to challenge government climate policy. But this time, their target may surprise you: wind farms.

Thunberg and other climate campaigners are joining a demonstration led by the Saami community, an Indigenous group whose traditional lands stretch across Norway, Sweden, Finland, and western Russia. The protest, which kicked off Monday, aims to pressure the Norwegian government to take down 151 turbines that make up two wind farms in the Fosen region of central Norway. Completed in 2020, the wind farms sit on lands that the Saami use for reindeer herding—a central part of their lifestyle. Herders say their animals are terrified by the noise and sight of the turbines, which are 285 ft. tall, leaving the lands unsuitable for grazing and the fate of the area’s Saami in jeopardy.

Protesters claim Norway is breaking the law by keeping the turbines running. In October 2021, Norway’s Supreme Court ruled that their construction violated the Saami’s protected cultural rights under a U.N. treaty and that the energy ministry’s decision to license them was “invalid.” But it stopped short of ordering the removal of the turbines—which are owned by Norwegian energy companies Statkraft and TrønderEnergi, German utility Stadtwerke Muenchen, and Denmark’s Nordic Wind Power DA. More than 500 days later, the turbines are still running, as the energy ministry continues to investigate whether it can modify them in some way to allow them to operate while also satisfying the Saami’s rights.

Wind turbines at the Storheia wind farm in the Fosen Peninsula, one of two wind farms opposed by Saami activists, on Dec. 7, 2021.

The comes amid a global land crunch triggered by the fight against climate change. Norway, the world’s 11th largest oil producer, has launched full-tilt into a green transition, expanding clean energy sources that require a lot more land than fossil fuels. The country has tripled its onshore wind capacity since 2018, to 4.8 GW. The two Fosen wind farms are part of Europe’s largest onshore wind development. Adding to land demand, Norway is also planning major electric grid expansions, new mines to provide minerals needed for batteries and electric vehicles, and forestry projects to absorb carbon dioxide from the air.

The resulting pressure is worsening an already fraught relationship between the state and Saami groups. “We need to be better at having a dialogue with Saami interests,” says Amund Vik, state secretary for the energy and petroleum ministry. “But there’s also no doubt that we need to produce more energy and build more grids, to allow for industrial activity, employment opportunities, reasonable electricity prices all over the country, and to meet our climate targets.” 

Indigenous leaders say governments around the world are failing to strike a balance between those interests and their own. It’s fueling increasing pushback to the projects officials are necessary to decarbonization. Just last week in the U.S., the National Congress of American Indians called for an immediate halt to the development of the U.S.’ burgeoning offshore wind industry, arguing that its members are not being adequately consulted. Indigenous and climate activists from Latin America to Africa have also staged protests challenging a U.N. backed goal to conserve 30% of the world’s lands by 2030, which many fear will lead to the co-opting of Indigenous territories.

Norway's Oil and Energy Minister Terje Aasland speaks to young climate protesters from the "Nature and Youth" and "Norwegian Samirs Riksforbund Nuorat" groups who block the entrance of Norway's Energy Ministry on February 28, 2023.

Norway and other countries are repeating the exploitative dynamics of previous, fossil-fueled eras of industrial development, says Åsa Larsson Blind, vice president of the Saami Council, who grew up in a reindeer-herding community in Sweden. “We call it green colonialism, because it’s in the name of combating climate change, but on the ground, for affected communities, the consequences are the same.”

Saami and other communities, she says, are being asked “to give up their culture and their children’s possibilities to continue their way of life,” so that “other societies” can decarbonize their own high-consumption lifestyles. “Is that fair?”

A Stalled Way Forward

Vik, the energy ministry official, says there are many options on the table to bring the wind farms in line with the government’s obligations to the Saami. That includes full decommissioning, removing a few turbines, or removing some roads. There may also be a way to address the reindeer herders’ needs by creating new grazing areas, or offering more monetary compensation than they were initially given.

But Knut Helge Hurum, a lawyer who represents one group of herders, says the only solution is for the turbines to be torn down. He claims the consultation process between the government and herders since the 2021 verdict has been “like talking to a wall. … They have had 500 days and very little has been produced from their side.”

The reindeer herders first began mounting their legal challenges in 2014, before construction began. Some Saami activists argue that the government should adopt a policy halting construction of wind turbines to allow legal challenges like theirs run their course.

Vik, however, says that would be impractical—in part because many other groups, such as landowners, file similar lawsuits over the expropriation of land and compensation for green energy projects. “If you’re going to wait for all those legal battles, nothing will be built, or everything will take a very long time.”

Indigenous Tokenization

Time is certainly a factor when it comes to clean energy. By 2030, the Paris-based International Energy Agency says the world needs to have installed 1,200 GW of solar, wind, and other clean energy sources—four times the amount that existed in 2022. If we don’t, global warming will intensify to catastrophic levels, which would also be disastrous for many Indigenous communities’ ways of life.

While Indigenous communities have made inroads in the global climate conversation in recent years, winning recognition in the media and at U.N. climate summits for the outsize contribution that they have made to protecting nature, activists say they are still being ignored when it comes to actual decision making about energy and biodiversity. In Tanzania, for example, authorities drove Masaai people out of their lands last year to make way for a nature reserve. On Friday, legislators in Finland blocked a vote on legislation that would have granted its Saami representatives a say over clean energy and mining projects in their territories.

Protests like the ones in Oslo this week are disrupting that kind of tokenization, says Larsson Blind, the Saami council member. “People will see that it’s no longer possible to only include Indigenous peoples when it comes to showing [off] their cultures at [summits],” she says.

The hope, she adds, is to set a precedent ahead of future decisions on mining and grid expansion projects coming down the pipeline in Norway. “We will assert our human rights. And we are getting stronger and stronger.”

Breakthrough close on France-Spain undersea electricity link -sources

The interconnection would enable the two nations to quadruple their energy exchange capacity to 5,000 megawatts, enough to power 5 million homes. It had been planned to be built by the power grid operators RTE of France and REE of Spain by 2025. 

  REUTERS BY BELÉN CARREÑO, , BENJAMIN MALLET AND KATE ABNETT

MADRID/PARIS/STOCKHOLM, March - France and Spain are poised to announce a breakthrough this week in a long-running impasse over hefty costs of what would be their first undersea electricity link, a minister and sources in both countries told Reuters.

Spanish Energy Minister Teresa Ribera told Reuters earlier she expected a final agreement this week, without specifying further details on the project to double the interconnection capacity, which both countries last year agreed to speed up amid Europe's energy crisis.

However, since the initial announcement of the project in 2017, the estimated cost of the 400 km-long (250 mile-long) cable link from Spain’s northern coast to France’s western coast through the Bay of Biscay has nearly doubled around to 3.2 billion euros ($3.42 billion), according to a Spanish source with knowledge of the matter.

That was due to unforeseen seabed instability on the French side that required costly re-routing, and rising costs of raw materials.

The project was designed to double existing transmission capacity between the countries and would allow Spain to feed its bountiful renewable energy into a wider European grid, which makes it growingly important after Russia's invasion of Ukraine unleashed an energy crisis in Europe last year.

Two sources familiar with the matter said France's Energy Regulatory Commission and the Spanish competition watchdog CNMC should give the go-ahead on Thursday or Friday to the project, whose budget has been increased. They did not specify the terms of the deal.

The French regulator had no immediate comment. Spain's CNMC said only the negotiations were still ongoing.

Spain is a growing producer of renewable energy that it exports to France and it wants its neighbour to pay most of the extra costs. That had led to disagreement amid wider tensions between them about pipeline connections and protectionism.

Two sources with knowledge of the negotiations said the likely cost-sharing deal was part of a political discussion of contentious issues, including France's campaign for nuclear hydrogen to be considered a renewable source, which Spain opposes.

One of them said that when the project was first conceived, France had an electricity surplus and was exporting to Spain, so Spain had agreed to pay part of the costs on the French side, but now the tables have turned.

Spanish sources said the go-ahead would likely mean that France, whose nuclear power industry has been beset by problems, finally agreed to pay more.

The interconnection, that had been slated to be built by the power grid operators RTE of France and Spain's REE by 2025 and is now likely to suffer delays, would allow the two countries to double their electricity exchange capacity to 5,000 megawatts, enough to provide power for 5 million homes.