Energy minister: Cyprus aims for ‘photovoltaics on every roof’

The government aims for ‘photovoltaics on every roof’ with a proposal providing free installation of solar panels to vulnerable people in exchange for a small bimonthly tariff to the electricity authority, Energy Minister Giorgos Papanastasiou said on Wednesday.

State subsidies for electricity bills are not a sustainable way to address the rising power costs, the minister said in statements after the cabinet meeting. He stressed that the recently changed scheme will not be reinstated for everyone despite public complaints.

Instead, he said the government is examining a plan that will bring multiple benefits. Officials are working on establishing a process where people belonging to vulnerable groups can have PV panels installed on their house, the cost of which will be repaid with a small charge in their electricity bills.

As an example, he mentioned that in a house where the electricity bill is at €300 to €400 per two months, the cost will be reduced to €25 to €30 bimonthly after the photovoltaics are installed. Such a small amount “is not difficult to shoulder” the minister said.

Apart from promoting sustainable energy, he explained that this proposal will address the problem of developing large photovoltaic parks on fertile land which is also “visually polluting”. Furthermore, he added that it will support those who lack the initial capital to install solar panels, estimated at €6,000 to €6,500.

“We are basically trying to promote the idea of every roof a photovoltaic,” Papanastasiou said.

The scheme will be carried out through the electricity authority. “We will soon be able to announce soon that there will be packages of a 4 kilowatt, a 7 kilowatt, a 10 kilowatt and depending on what can be put in the house,” the minister said.

Last month, the government decided to extend the electricity bill subsidies only for vulnerable groups, a decision that was criticised by opposition parties and other organised groups.

Asked about the possibility of including more beneficiaries, Papanastasiou said on Wednesday that this is “the wrong direction” and urged every household to look to ways to save energy as the state’s resources are limited.

“Every household should look at their own home to limit themselves to make energy savings. They need to look at the plans that are available from the Ministry of Energy, that is, to concentrate on installing photovoltaic panels, to take from the energy upgrade plans for homes rather than looking for subsidies every time.

“We will all suffer,” he said, but “I would not want us to concentrate in the wrong direction, it’s very fragmented subsidies that the government has done, horizontal ones are usually not appropriate because they don’t target the groups that need it.”

He also recalled that Europe has set an additional target to reduce electricity consumption by an additional 20 per cent. For 2030, EU’s energy efficiency target is a reduction of at least 32.5 per cent.

“We have to focus on energy savings. Subsidies are not sustainable, it is not something that we as a government should actually support,” he said.

Thus, the government is focusing on more sustainable and long term support, the energy minister noted such as the PV and hybrid and battery packages.

On the issue of energy storage, he said there was a public consultation last week on the installation of electricity storage in the grid. The public consultation will be open for the next two to three weeks.

He explained that “we are promoting the idea of having grid storage and no electricity being dumped.” Electricity rejection in the autumn and spring season due to low consumption is seriously high which is a burden on PV farm investors, he said.

“We intend, if everything goes well, in the next two years to have good electricity storage in the grid,” he said.

According to Papanastasiou, the design envisages a centralised system unless there is more interest in other systems that will be put in strategic locations next to PV parks and points where significant energy production is concentrated.