Electricity prices soar Cyprus turns to solar panels
In order to alleviate the pressure of soaring electricity prices, the Cyprus government has continuously increased the subsidies for household photovoltaic power generation and house insulation renovation this year, and nearly doubled the subsidies for household installation of solar panels. Cyprus officials said recently that the government's initiative to reduce the cost of electricity has received positive response from the public, and household electricity is accelerating the transformation to solar energy.
Dimitris Nasanel, an official of the Cyprus Electricity Authority, told Xinhua News Agency recently that the Cyprus government announced a new action plan to tackle climate change and reduce power costs at the end of May. As the approval authority, EAC received 2260 applications one week after the implementation of the plan. At present, the number of applications per month remains at about 1000, far higher than the 400 in 2020 and 2021.
The Serbian Bureau of Statistics said earlier this month that since the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine, the prices of electricity, oil and petroleum products have risen significantly. The Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry of Cyprus has increased the budget of the original subsidy plan by 40%. For the families who obtained the housing construction planning permission before January 1, 2017 and applied for installing photovoltaic solar panels, a subsidy of 375 euros per kilowatt of solar photovoltaic installed capacity will be given. The subsidy amount for mountain families will increase by 50% from the above standard, and the subsidy standard for families in need will be increased to 1000 euros per kilowatt.
When talking about the approval cycle, Nathaniel said that due to the large number of applicants, the staff of the power bureau had to work overtime on weekends, but even some applicants had to wait several months for approval.
"I was told that it would be my turn to review my application in two or three months." The applicant, Mihalis Maras, told reporters that he had the idea of installing solar panels before. The energy crisis and the government's increasing subsidies prompted him to make this decision.
He predicted that after the installation of solar panels, his electricity bill every two months would be reduced from 430 euros to about 180 euros. With government subsidies, the cost is expected to be recovered within five years.
The goal of the Ministry of Energy of Cyprus is to make nearly half of the households in Cyprus own solar panels by 2030. Cyprus has a population of about 1 million, with more than 300 sunny days every year.
