A new solar photovoltaic park has been added to the Akrotiri area of Limassol.
This was announced by the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) on Tuesday, January 9.
According to EAC spokeswoman Christina Papadopoulou, the solar power plant will be operating using the latest photovoltaic energy technology. The small park with a capacity of 12 MW will supply electricity to 4.5 thousand families. The project will reduce the purchase of fossil fuels by 5 thousand tons per year, thus saving 2.8 million euros of the state budget. In addition, the photovoltaic park will prevent the emission of 14 thousand tons of carbon dioxide.
Papadopoulou said that compared to the cost of electricity production by traditional methods, which is currently 23 cents/kW, the electricity produced by the Akrotiri PV Park will cost only 5 cents/kW.
Papadopoulou also noted that significant changes have been made to the project. In particular, according to the original plan, it was supposed to have a capacity of 20 MW and serve 70,000 households. However, the much more ambitious project had to be cut back due to regulations from the Department of Environmental Protection and long bureaucratic delays.
In the end, she mentioned that the EAC is doing its best to bring as many photovoltaic parks as possible to the island. Recently, the department announced an open public tender aimed at obtaining land plots measuring 30 thousand m2 to lease from private owners for the development of new parks. The work in this direction has been ongoing for 6 months. The results should be announced by the middle of 2024.
The question of the economical consumption of electricity on the island has always been very acute.
The small area and the lack of natural minerals from which fuel is produced make Cyprus vulnerable to electricity consumption. Only new technologies can enable the country to save electricity and thus spend much less money on it.
Therefore, at present, Cyprus' special focus is on renewable energy sources, in particular solar panels. As a consequence, photovoltaic parks are periodically appearing on the island, on which there is great hope for the future.