Cyprus Mail 19 May 2020 - by Gina Agapiou
Vassilikos Power Station
The electricity authority (EAC) said on Tuesday that May this year broke the record for energy consumption due to this week’s heatwave.
According to deputy spokesperson Christos Hadjilaos, average energy consumption for May is usually around 600MW, while the maximum output on Tuesday topped 910MW.
“It is an unprecedented situation for May, I don’t remember having high temperatures for so many days in a row in previous years,” he said.
The increase in demand was sudden, Hadjilaos said. The average power output two weeks ago was at 400MW, while it doubled on May 18, reaching 830MW. The reason was the corresponding increase in temperatures, which reached about 43C on Tuesday.
“We are hoping the heatwave won’t last for long.”
The EAC could not seem to explain whether the higher usage was due to more people being at home from work due to the lockdown, or how the difference balanced out between businesses being shut down and not using electricity, and people using more electricity at home.
The EAC reported a 20 per cent reduction in total energy consumption in April due to the Covid-19 measures that forced the closure of many businesses.
With restrictions being lifted on Thursday when many more businesses, including restaurants, salons and also schools reopen, usage looks set to increase further as the temperature is not set to drop until at least Friday.
A spokesperson at the authority said they did not expect a problem and could easily manage demand of 1,100MW.
Kitasweather, an independent meteorology station confirmed that May broke the record multiple times as temperatures the same time last year were more than 10 degrees lower, at around 30C.
Temperatures will see a sudden drop from Friday, according to Kitasweather.
