Energy Minister Michalis Damianos outlined plans for rapid energy storage expansion by 2027 to lower electricity costs and boost renewable integration, while brushing off immediate summer power adequacy and fuel price concerns.

Storage Targets and Timeline Set

By the end of 2027, there will be several hundred megawatts of energy storage in the system, Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry, Michalis Damianos said on Wednesday. The Minister was speaking to reporters before a high-level workshop that was convened by the Cyprus Employers & Industrialists Federation (OEB) for reducing the cost of electricity in Cyprus.

Grid Adequacy and Conventional Power

Damianos also said that following a letter from the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority (CERA), they are looking into whether to activate article 34, which concerns the immediate installation of conventional production units, adding, however, that the Transmission System Operator of Cyprus (TSOC) itself has said that there will be no adequacy problems this summer.

Strategic TSOC Deployments

Invited to refer to the target for the installation of energy storage, Damianos said that the TSOC has already signed for its own storage units, which will arrive in Cyprus in January 2027. Before the summer of 2027 there will be 120 Megawatts installed by the TSOC, he noted. “I believe that by the end of 2027 we will have several hundred Megawatts of storage in the system, and a greater inclusion of Renewable Energy Sources, solar energy, in our energy mix, which will also help with adequacy,” he added.

International Fuel Price Volatility

Asked whether there will be an increase in fuel prices in Cyprus due to developments in the Middle East, Damianos said that fuel prices are an international issue, adding that prices also depend on the situation in the Middle East. “We had reached a very high level in fuel prices and there was some decline,” he said. It is an issue, he concluded, that he can not comment on as it concerns external factors.

Source: CNA(ΚΥΠΕ)