Nicosia, Oct 15 (IANS): The construction of an electricity link between Asia and Europe was launched at an event in Cyprus.

European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades attended the event in Nicosia, which marked the start of the 2.5 billion euro ($2.4 billion) project.

The EuroAsia Interconnector will link up the electricity grids of Israel, Cyprus and Greece, and will also transfer electricity from renewable sources in Israel to Europe, Xinhua news agency reported.

The project, with estimated construction costs of 1.57 billion euros for the first phase, has received a 657 million euros EU grant under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and has also been awarded a 100 million euros grant from the EU's Recovery and Resilience Facility, according to a statement issued by the European Commission on Friday.

The project is expected to complete by the end of 2026, the statement said.

A second interconnector between Egypt and Europe through Cyprus is also envisaged in the future.

The EuroAia Interconnector project involves the laying of around 1,200 kilometre of undersea cable with 2,000 Megawatt capacity, from Israel to Cyprus, and to the Greek island Crete.

Electricity from renewable sources in Israel, and later from Egypt, could be transferred to other EU countries through the Greek grid. (1 euro= 0.97 dollars)