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Cyprus Land of Solar

Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean and the third in population. The area of the island is 9,240 km2 compared with Malta with only 320 km2. But its position at the very eastern end of the Mediterranean has made it vulnerable to a whole series of invaders during its long history. it has been occupied by other countries and peoples for most of its existence. It didn’t become an independent country until 1960 and even now there are unresolved problems notably the division of the island between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

                                         A divided Cyprus

In the times of the ancient Greeks in the 2nd millennium BC it was first occupied by the Mycanean Greeks and Cyprus is known for the two Greek mythic figures of  Aphrodite and Adonis. Since then and into the modern era the island has been dominated by first the  Assyrians, then Persians, Egyptians, Romans and Byzantines. During the Crusades it was occupied and used as a supply base and for a time had French kings. These were replaced by the Venetians who in turn were driven out by the Ottomans in 1530. Ottoman rule survived until 1878 when the British gained control by international agreement. In the first world war when Turkey joined Germany, Cyprus was formally annexed by the British.

For much of the 20th Century the Greek Cypriots wanted ENOSIS, union with Greece while the Turkish Cypriots wanted to join the new Turkish Republic. The British were keen to retain the island because of its strategic location near to the Suez Canal. Indeed even today Britain retains two military bases on the island at Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

The Greeks form 77% of the population while only 18% are Turkish Cypriots. The total population is 1,206,000 including 294,000 Turks. The Turkish population includes 150,000 Turks shipped in from Turkey. In 1974 Turkey invaded the island and took the northern third of the island including a third of the capital Nicosia and established its own government and parliament . 150,000 Greeks were displaced and 25,000 Turkish cypriots who lived mainly in Nicosia and Paphos. Many of both communities emigrated to the UK and Australia. Indeed there are now estimated to be more Turkish Cypriots in London than in Cyprus. Apart from the two main communities there are 25,000 Britons living on the island as well as Armenians , Palestinians, Lebanese and more recent immigrants from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Philippines and Vietnam who work in the burgeoning tourist industry.

The Republic of Cyprus accounts for two thirds of the island and is the internationally recognised government of the whole island. Since 2004 it has been a member of the EU and switched to the Euro in 2008. Although like Greece the country suffered after the 2008 financial collapse, Cyprus is a modern wealthy well organised state with offshore financial services much patronised by wealthy Russians as Moscow is only 2 hours away by plane. Life expectancy is high at 81.5 while population is in overall decline with a modest 1.34 fertility rate. 

Tourism is the key industry with 4 million visitors in 2019 compared with 3.7 million in 2018. Ther principle tourist areas are Paphos and the west, Limassol and Ayia Napa in the east which is very popular with young people.  Most visitors are from Britain, Russia, Germany and other north European countries as well as Israel, Poland and Greece. Limassol is popular with the Russians while the Brits prefer Paphos and Ayia Napa. The Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot diaspora in the UK exert extensive political and financial influence on Cyprus. And many retain second homes on the island while hoping to eventually secure the return of their property on the island.

Rank	Country	2016	2017	2018
1	United Kingdom	1,157,978	1,253,839	1,327,805
2	Russia	781,634	824,494	783,631
3	Israel	148,739	261,966	232,561
4	Germany	124,030	188,826	189,200
5	Greece	160,254	169,712	186,370
6	Sweden	115,019	136,725	153,769
7	Poland	42,683	56,665	89,508
8	Switzerland[15]	46,602	57,540	74,216
9	Ukraine	62,292	48,190	69,619
10	Romania	28,741	49,304	66,969

Many invest in property and tourist development – there are more than 650 hotels with 200 rooms plus complete with swimming pools and extensive indoor and outdoor bars and restaurants. Many visitors hardly leave what are in fact resort hotels.

Self catering is also popular and there are thousands of apartment blocks in all the resorts especially Larnaca, Limassol and Ayia Napa.

Tourism is also popular in Norrthern Cyprus but the main group of tourists are from Turkey followed by Brits and Germans. Property is cheap in the north and it often purchased by foreigners but its wise to be careful because of title, as many of the buildings particularly in Famagusta are Greek owned. Kyrenia and Famagusta are the main resorts in the north.

Although its now easier to travel between north and south there is still no agreement between the two sides. When and if there is an agreement and property is returned to its Greek owners expect a big property boom with solar energy playing a key part in redevelopment.

    Resort Hotel Cyprus

Cyprus has an extensive grid system covering the whole island but with high density connections in the three main cities of Nicosia, Limassol and Larnaca. See map of grid below. 

      EAC Electric Grid Cyprus

The Electricity Authority of Cyprus  (EAC)  operates the grid and electricity distribution and all the main power stations in  the Republic while the north has its own power company called Kibtek. The north has frequent power cuts and power surges. A cable is being laid under the sea between Turkey and the island to provide additional power for the north.

Electricity is expensive in both parts of Cyprus. In the Republic the current price is 24 US cents for households and 18 us cents for commercial. In the North is 1.29 TL (approx  19 US cents). There have been 33 electricity increases in 18 years. Load shedding on the grid in the north  means that households have to fit surge protectors to prevent damage to appliances.  There is good potential in the north for solar with 44 x 5 and 4 star hotels in Kyrenia, Famagusta and Nicosia (Turkish side). There is also a British Residents Society in the North www.brstc.com.

By contract EAC founded in 1952 has never made a loss and maintains a regular and reliable source of power. Installed capacity from three oil fired power stations is 1,460 mW. EAC also distributes the power from 5 private wind farms with capacity of 155 mW, 5.4 mW of solar and 10 mW of biofuel. There are large deposits of natural gas off the coast called BLOCK 12 but no extraction is expected to take place before 2022 because of disputes with Turkey.

                                Solar Farm Cyprus

EAC has 559,000 customers and produced 4,128 gWhrs in 2015 at a profit of 60 million euros. 2 gWhrs even ended up in the North for which they received no payment !

Cyprus is number 1 in Europe for solar potential and yet most electricity is generated using imported oil.  See map illustrating the high level of insolation in Cyprus particularly around the main tourist resorts. Cyprus benefits from more than 300 sunny days per year comparable to levels in Egypt and Middle East.

                          Insolation Map of Cyprus

According to IRENA (International Renewable Energy Forum) the target is 16% by 2020 25-40% by 2030. This is equivalent to between 500 and 1,000 mW. The IRENA road map has been drawn up with the participation of the Cyprus government.  There is also an emphasis on storage because of the falling price of batteries combined with the need to provide power all day every day 24/7. IREAN call it a ‘powerbank’. Offgridinstaller believe that everyone and every business can have its one powerbank. With 600,000 customers using power from EAC many of these consumers could have  Powerbank especially big users of power. With  a battery life of a minimum 15 years power from the sun can be accessed all the year round at a cost of around 10 US cents per kWhr compared with average grid price for commercial users of  18 us cents and 24 us cents for household users. The cost and comparable prices are similar in Northern Cyprus with the added issue of unstable power and outages.

‘Powerbank’ is part of an EU initiative called Store Europe encouraging all EU members to increase the amount of renewable energy but with long term storage. Its already possible to secure batteries with a lifespan of 19 years and this figure is likely to grow in future years and prices will continue to fall dramatically. UNDP has just installed a system at its Cyprus HQ of 15 kW at a cost of $30,000. The Cyprus government is also providing subsidies for solar of Eurs 30 million in their 2020 budget. But there are still subsidies of another Euro 35 million for fossil fuels and what will the impact be of natural gas when its bought ashore in the 2020’s ?

                          Domestic solar Cyprus Style

The opportunities for solar in Cyprus have never been better and given all the potential commercial customers it will be enhanced by the need to reduce energy costs post Covid 19.

Biblio

International Renewable Energy Forum (IRENA) on Cyprus renewable road map 2020’s

Electricity Authority of Cyprus website 2020

British Residents Society – Northern Cyprus (TRNS)

Kibtek website TRNS

Energy in Cyprus – Wikipedia

Concise History of Cyprus 1878-2009 Heinz Richter

Statistics of Cyprus

World Factbook CIA

Cyprus Lonely Planet

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