Big delays noted in the field of energy
Statements by the General Secretary of AKEL A.Kyprianou after visiting the offices of the Cyprus Electricity Authority (AHK)
A comprehensive strategy on energy issues must be elaborated
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 14th April 2021, Nicosia
“I would like to thank the Chairman of the Board of AHK and his associates in the management of the authority for the very constructive and meaningful discussion we had.
As AKEL, we attach great importance to the role of the semi-governmental organisations AHK and the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CYTA), which we have visited before.
They are two of the organizations that are of great strategic importance for our country and in this sense we support them and shall support them so they can proceed with their development program.
I’ll make an additional comment here to say that we don’t agree with the government’s attempt to take part of the Authority’s reserve as this is needed for the Organization’s growth, that is, to invest in its development program.
Now, making a broader statement on the government’s energy policy, let me just say that despite the government’s declarations and announcements, we are unfortunately lagging far behind on photovoltaic issues, natural gas issues and with regards the electricity connection with Israel and Egypt.
There has been long delays, despite the fact that over the past 8 years we have heard numerous announcements, especially with regards photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Sources in general.
Cyprus is perhaps the country with the most sunshine across the European Union and yet in terms of the RES sector our country is third from bottom in the relevant table compared to other EU countries and this reveals the magnitude of the problems we face.
Even in cases where there are photovoltaics, we must say that the benefit mainly goes to the entrepreneurs of the centres and not to the consumers. Regarding the arrival of natural gas, let me remind you that 10 years ago we had signed an agreement that the Cyprus Electricity Authority proceeded to conclude an agreement with Shell for the arrival of natural gas.
Back then, certain forces and circles led the efforts, of course, headed by the DISY President, for the natural gas not to arrive, declaring that in 2-3 years Cyprus will have its own gas. 10 years have passed since then and during all this time we have paid many tens of millions of Euros more because unfortunately that agreement wasn’t allowed to proceed. The appeal AKEL addresses to the state is that a comprehensive strategy on energy issues must be elaborated. The government had promised that it would establish a council on energy strategy to chart an energy policy, but to date we have seen absolutely nothing.”
