'Solar power for every household'

According to CERA vice chairman Constantinos Iliopoulos, the scheme will be tested on 125 volunteer homes for a year, to see if its implementation in all households would be sustainable. If so, the aim is to install the systems on all Cypriot homes from 2014 onwards.

“The system will be implemented in homes for a year on a pilot basis, to see the consequences it will have on the entire system and the aim is to implement it more generally later,” Iliopoulos told state radio yesterday.

“A small photovoltaic system that corresponds to the house’s consumption will be installed on the homes, so that at the end of the day the production from the photovoltaic will be roughly the same as the house’s consumption,” he added.

“We estimate that broader implementation after the pilot scheme will take place in 2014 for the entire population, if our observations, estimations and figures are as we expect them to be.”

Iliopoulos explained that the systems would produce electricity throughout the day – when there is sun – only needing the central supply network during the evening hours.

But he added: “We need to see the reliability of the system and see through this pilot implementation what the financial consequences will be to the system. Because if you think that all houses have zero consumption, the network (the EAC) will not be able to cover its maintenance and operational costs and therefore we will have to find a way to charge consumers, so as to cover these costs.”

According to the CERA official, the system has not yet been implemented in other EU states, apart from Denmark and Italy, where it is also being tested as a pilot scheme.

Acting EAC spokesman Yiannis Tsouloftas yesterday said the authority was not against such measures, so long as it was compensated for the subsidiary services it provides.

“What the EAC wants to ensure is that it is compensated for the subsidiary services it offers, with the aim of keeping its system functioning,” said Tsouloftas.

He explained: “For example, an application is made to supply a house with electricity and this house is quite far out of town. We have to plan a network to supply that house. Say that costs us around 5,000; we estimate that through consumption we will receive a certain amount a month… and because we estimate making some profit, we charge the client less.”

Tsouloftas said the EAC viewed it as an investment: “If the customer now comes and starts net metering, we won’t have the estimated returns. So who will pay for the money we initially put down?”

Also, he argued, solar power was unreliable. “If for two or three days a year there are clouds and no solar production, we can’t say we didn’t make any provisions as we thought there would be sun. We can’t depend on the sun, so we have to have the system ready in case it is needed.”

“Our investigation into the matter showed that up to 5,000 house roofs could immediately be turned into solar power producers without operational problems…It is time for the EAC to abandon its negative stance towards self-production of electricity,” said the Greens.

“Unfortunately the promotion of solar power use in Cyprus hits a dead end due to unacceptable and intolerable bureaucracies and a lack of vision (as well as vested interests),” it added.