Greece asks Fulgor, Nexans, Prysmian to bid for undersea power links

Greece's power grid operator IPTO has invited Fulgor, Nexans Norway and Prysmian Powerlink to submit binding bids for the supply of undersea cables to link some Greek islands to the mainland grid, it said on Tuesday.

The contract, with an initial estimated cost of 1.7 billion euros ($1.76 billion), will be awarded based on the best financial offer, the operator said in a statement.

The winner will have to build cables that will supply power to the Aegean islands of Kos, Rhodes, Karpathos, Lemnos, Lesbos, Skyros, Chios and Samos, the statement added.

IPTO plans to spend hundreds of millions of euros in power links to many Greek islands, some of which still rely on costly oil-fired power plants and struggle to match demand during the peak summer tourist season.

(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou Editing by Bernadette Baum)