Cyprus may give renewable energy permits in the autumn

THE government expects to grant licences for renewable power generation in the autumn in an attempt to meet European Union commitments on switching to cleaner energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Minister Fotis Fotiou said yesterday.
Fotiou also said the authorities would look at making it compulsory that “clean” energy be used on public projects.

“By the end of August or the beginning of September, the ministerial committee will meet to grant the final licences so that we can meet the six per cent quota of renewable energy in total power generation,” Fotiou told the Reuters news agency.
Renewables now represent 0.3 per cent of Cyprus’s total energy generation drawn mainly from solar energy, which the island has in abundance. It wants to build the level up to 6.0 per cent by 2010.

This week the European Commission cut Cyprus’s carbon dioxide allowance by 23 per cent to 5.48 million tonnes per year between 2008 and 2012.
Cyprus now relies on fuel to fire its power stations, and has said the onus is on heavy industry to cut down on their emissions in the light of the EU cutting its CO2 allowance.
Authorities planned to contact affected industry which included the state-controlled electricity utility EAC, cement and brick works as well as operators of desalination plants, Fotiou said.

“We must encourage power production with renewable energy sources,” said Fotiou. Protests from local communities had so far prevented the development of wind farms, he added.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.