MORE power cuts, planned >rolling blackouts= and the possibility of further equipment damage are likely unless people consume less power, and towns and cities allow sub-station construction, Electricity Authority (EAC) officials said yesterday.
There is a possibility of blackouts and other mishaps if loads continue as they are, EAC spokesman Tassos Roussos said. He noted that some 600 air-conditioners are being bought daily — 25 per cent more than last year.
Overloaded EAC equipment exploded last Friday in a major transmission sub-station near the utility=s new Nicosia headquarters. At least a third of the capital lost power on two successive days in temperatures recorded officially at 43.7 degrees Celsius.
But generating electricity is not the problem. EAC Chairman Georgios Georgiades told a news conference yesterday the island=s three power plants have an installed capacity of 980 kilovolts (KV) daily. Only 680KV of that is used. The remainder was not being generated or was not leaving power plants because the EAC lacks enough high-voltage transmission and low-voltage distribution sub-stations.
The EAC has 45 transmission stations and 10,000 distribution sub-stations, and according to Roussos, about a dozen new sub-stations are needed to prevent exactly the kind of power outages experienced by Nicosia over the past few days.
Generating power is one thing, Commerce Minister Nicos Rolandis said yesterday, Abut we do not have the possibility of transferring and distributing this electricity to the various consumers, because we have difficulties securing the permits from the various authorities to do such a transfer and distribution@.
Roussos said if the EAC had an important sub-station in the centre of the town, Friday=s blackout would have been over Ain a matter of minutes@.
The EAC has Afinally got the approval@ for the new Nicosia sub-station amid the government buildings being built near the old stadium in the city centre, Roussos said. AWe hope by next summer to have it working.@
He said it had been delayed for just over three years, and added that Nicosia is not unique in this. Municipalities all over Cyprus Ahave delayed a lot of these projectsY We have at least another eight Y delayed from between three and eight years@.
Nicosia Mayor Lellos Demetriades and the mayors of six surrounding municipalities yesterday held a news conference to counter charges they had needlessly delayed EAC construction plans.
ANicosia Municipality repeats its position that the EAC charges against the local authorities in this case are unfair and inexcusable, and were made after the fact, when the public reacted to (the power cuts) of the last few days, and the EAC tried to shift responsibility on to others,@ Demetriades said.
AOn the permits, which the EAC requested from the municipalities of Nicosia for other smaller sub-stations,@ Demetriades said, Athere is not one that remains unfulfilled in any municipality.@
He called the EAC charges Aridiculous@.
AThey are under a sort of hysteria, Demetriades told the Cyprus Mail. They don=t know where to put the blame, and they say all sorts of things which are not proven. They are wrong.@
He accused the EAC of gross negligence in not letting the people know in advance that Nicosia=s power would be cut. He conceded the outage could not have been foreseen, but said later cuts to rectify the problem could have been announced over the radio and television.
Rolandis said much resistance to EAC plans was because Amany people fear the value of their property may plummet if they have such a substation nearby@.
The minister will meet the EAC board today to examine each pending permit Aand see what we can doY to expedite the whole process.@
Told of Roussos= warning that there could be more blackouts, Rolandis said it was Aone of those things which characterise Cyprus life today@.
AThe same happened with water and electricity,@ he said. APeople want to have all facilities, but >Not In My Back Yard=. If we go on like this, we shall be left without electricity.@
