The solar farm in the buffer zone, touted as an important bicommunal project in Cyprus by the EU, is still in the idea stage and faces many challenges, the government said on Wednesday.

Speaking to CyBC in the morning Deputy Government Spokesman Yiannis Antoniou referred to an EU Commission announcement that both sides began studying how to create the solar park, following the completion of a preliminary study.

The EU’s Director General of Structural Reform Mario Nava said on Tuesday the results of the initial study for the creation of the solar park in the UN Buffer Zone were discussed with members of the two communities.

The initial study envisages the creation of a 36MW solar power plant in the buffer zone, which will use photovoltaic and storage batteries with a three-hour storage capacity.

However, Antoniou sounded less enthusiastic about the whole initiative, saying that “a big challenge is where it [the park] will be created”.

He said that the whole project is still in the “idea stage” and that there are still many challenges for it to move ahead.

He did express that the government was willing to participate, but that the whole thing also rests on the fact if there is willingness from the other side (north).

“It is a large project with a high cost, and financing decisions need to be made.”

He added that the Turkish Cypriot side also needs to answer some questions about the idea, alluding the fact of financing.

Antoniou told CyBC that the project will be financed in part by the EU, but that there will also be funding needed from both sides in the form of a loan.

The park was originally touted to be created in Pyla after a mutual understanding was reached between both sides, which the Turkish Cypriot later backed down on.

The agreement was reached following Turkish Cypriots punching UN officers in the buffer zone, while trying to open a road from Pyla (in the buffer zone) to the village of Arsos in the north.

Although, following UN intervention both sides seemed to agree on the creation of the road, and on allowing the Greek Cypriots to develop some areas of Pyla, and even a solar park, the Turkish Cypriot side backed down claiming that the understanding was being violated.

In late 2023, ‘foreign minister’ Tahsin Ertugruloglu argued that for 30 years the Greek side has been violating the buffer zone in the area by building infrastructure, roads, universities, a stadium “as if it is their own territory”.

“It is a mistake to think that in return for this road project we will give something to the Greek Cypriots. This is the mistake the UN made,” he stressed.

The Turkish Cypriot side then backed away from the works, effectively stalling all the works in the buffer zone.