Terna also said that the Italian ministry for the environment and energy security has started the authorisation process for the project, which should cost around 850 million euros in total.

The EU money comes from the Connecting Europe Facility, from which the EU commission also announced on Thursday investments in seven other cross-border energy projects, for a total outlay of 602 million euros.

Italy is looking to become a European energy hub and creating a link to Africa to import electricity generated from renewable energy sources plays into its strategy to eliminate its gas dependence from Russia.

($1 = 0.9476 euros)

(Reporting by Alvise Armellini; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)