Lesbos: 37.6 km overhead section of the 150 kV interconnection fuels expropriation dispute at Polichnitos

Preparations to connect Lesbos to Greece's national transmission system have reached the expropriation stage, and the dispute has moved onto the ground, the Lesvosnews portal reported on 3 November. Landowners around Polichnitos, in the south of the island, were recently notified of the expropriation of land, mostly olive groves, for the new high-voltage substation of transmission operator IPTO (ADMIE).

The project. According to Lesvosnews, Lesbos will receive a 150 kV submarine cable from Lemnos, followed by an underground line of about 21 km to the new substation in the west of the island, a GIS-type facility equipped with a STATCOM system. For the link to Mytilene, the study catalogue of the firm Eco-Consultants lists 37.6 km of overhead line and 4.6 km underground. IPTO's tender documents put the Western Lesbos substation at €45,888,200 and the Mytilene substation at €24,720,160, both due in the first half of 2030.

The objections. In November 2025 the municipality of Mytilene gave a favourable opinion on condition that the roughly 44 km Polichnitos–Mytilene line be buried along its entire length because of wildfire risk, and asked for the oil-fired plant in Mytilene to be shut down or placed in cold reserve. Forest services have also flagged the risk of crossing the forests of central Lesbos. Regional councillor Theodoros Valsamidis proposed at the Regional Council session of 30 October that IPTO be asked to move the substation to a neighbouring, non-agricultural plot.

Context. Lesbos is still a non-interconnected island: demand is covered mainly by the autonomous power station in Mytilene, with 86 MW of available summer capacity, and by five wind farms totalling 13.725 MW, alongside hundreds of photovoltaic installations, according to Lesvosnews. For the Lemnos–Lesbos and Lesbos–Chios cables IPTO ranked Fulgor first, and for Skyros–Lesbos Prysmian, LesvosPost reports.

What comes next. The impact study for the line inside the island, which will include the Mytilene substation, was expected in 2026, according to IPTO's half-year report cited by Lesvosnews. Cable production is scheduled to start in 2027 and be completed by 2031, LesvosPost writes.

Real-time data for the island are on the island page