Cyprus

The Cypriot cabinet has approved a proposal by the energy minister to extend the country’s subsidy scheme for net metering and energy-efficiency measures, adding €40 million of funding ($39.8 million) to the program.

Cyprus is a laggard in renewable energy development compared to many of its European neighbors. Given its reliance on oil and gas imports, the consequences are now being felt by electricity consumers on the island. However, as Ilias Tsagas reports, a combination of factors may soon provide the leverage that changes the game fast.

Cyprus has launched a new scheme to fund installations of PV arrays and battery systems, with a specific focus on owners of electric vehicles. Greece, meanwhile, has devised a subsidy scheme to support the use of gas for conventional cars.

Electricity generation in the Middle East and Africa could soon support the development of an interconnection between Greece, Cyprus, Israel and Egypt. Ilias Tsagas examines the landscape for this infrastructure mega-project, and the possible benefits for solar.

The latest numbers released by EU data body Eurostat indicate renewables, including hydropower, contributed 37% of Europe’s gross electricity consumption in 2020, up from 34% a year earlier.

An independent third-party has approved the European Commission’s safeguards to ensure the projects in member states financed by €250 billion of green bonds over the next five years, will have genuine emission reduction credentials.

Although the government last month started offering purchase incentives for residential batteries, a net metering regime which is in place for solar households means there is little to prompt PV owners to splash out more on storage.

The three Mediterranean countries of Greece, Cyprus and Israel signed this week an agreement to develop a subsea cable that links their electricity grids. Upon completion, the so-called EuroAsia Interconnector will be the world’s longest subsea power cable and could boost solar PV development in all three countries substantially.

International researchers have developed data quality routines to ensure data fidelity in O&M practices. They reconstructed invalid data through a sequence of filtering stages and inference techniques.

The 8 MW facility has been developed by a cement producer to supply around 10% of the annual electricity needs of its nearby factory. Under subsidy-free rules, the power will be bought by the Electricity Authority of Cyprus for the average price it would have paid if the electricity had come from fossil fuels.