Filenews 5 March 2023 - Angelos Nicolaou
In the midst of a global energy crisis, an economic crisis, an environmental crisis, the planet seems dull through the fumes of the exhaust gases that even today produce the funnels of energy stations. This artificial cloudiness is penetrated by the rays of the sun both figuratively and literally to be reflected in the mirrors of the patented technology of the company MAXX Energy that aspires through the solar thermal park with energy storage that it plans to build in the Nicosia district, to produce electricity of 260,000 MWhel / year (of which 60% will be produced during the hours when there will be no sunshine) capable of meeting the needs in electricity energy of 26,000 dwellings (17% of the electricity needs of Cypriot households).
We met the management team of Energy Intel who undertook the licensing and development of the MAXX Energy project which consists of the general manager Mrs. Eugenia Herodotou, the chief operating officer Marios Alexandrou and the chief financial officer Xenios Xenophontos. The General Manager of MAXX Energy Eugenia Herodotou refers to the project of a total investment of €250 million, which for our small Cyprus but also for any other country of larger size is considered important:
I have the honour to lead the Energy Intel team for the last 17 years and allow me to talk about my working family Marios and Xenios, But also all the children who make up the scientific team of the company, people who really believe in what they do with their excellent scientific training but most of all their belief that they can bring about change. And when we talk about change we mean the independence of our country from fossil energy sources and in the case of Cyprus we mean the burning of fuel oil. I will dwell in particular on the word detox because it refers precisely to the release from something toxic something that harms and does damage and to be specific in the production of energy that brings about climate change. Even this, as a term climate change is used artfully and de-incriminatingly. Conceptually it inactivates what we are living today which is global warming. A state of affairs that threatens humanity itself and whose effects we all see as a society as parents and individuals, from the increase in diseases such as cancer but also less threatening to the human body diseases such as asthma, skin diseases and others.
And there are scientific researches, let me say indisputable, which with mathematical accuracy describe the desertification of our beautiful country in a very few tens of years, that is, in a period of time that our children will experience, if not for sure. The word desertification is not enough to describe the reality of the disaster that will occur.
-What is the contribution of your project to the big bet to save the planet? How can this become a reality?
-Yes, one megawatt at a time. What I want to say is that for every unit of energy produced from renewable sources it will not be necessary for the corresponding unit to pollute the planet, firstly with the consumption of energy that will be needed to extract it from the bowels of the earth and secondly it will no longer pollute the planet by burning it and releasing into the atmosphere dozens of toxic gases and especially carbon dioxide, the key element that creates the phenomenon of the greenhouse. Here I also wanted to dwell on something equally important. Man is who he is today because he always looks ahead to evolving and evolving his tools. As energy first he used gravity by rolling objects under hills, then a lightning bolt gave him the fire which he learned to create at will, followed by steam and from steam we switched to electricity and internal combustion engines and of course to nuclear energy. The use of renewable energy today is not just a mantra used by modern hippies or angry youths, it is not an answer to a generation whose legacy we are preparing to bequeath a planet toxic and unsustainable. The use of renewable energy sources is the evolution, in fact, the rational evolution of energy production, it is the heyday of the technology available to the human species today.
-Are you working on compensatory measures?
-We have already mentioned some compensatory measures such as tree planting, leasing of land by owners, even the creation of corridors so that the project does not adjoin possible land developments and we are considering others such as game replacement because we have heard some complaints from the hunters of the area and in general we are open to listen but even more important to respond to concerns by offering solutions. There are many ideas as long as there is a will to cooperate, a cooperation which may concern the present and which we must all work on because it is the one that will secure the future.
On the map of world energy
The company plans to operate a 65 MW solar thermal park in the communities of Alhambra and Agia Varvara. The chief operating officer Marios Alexandrou refers to the project that MAXX Energy intends to instal: "In order to properly describe our project, we should talk a little bit about the technology we intend to use and it is of particular importance because it is not a photovoltaic park like the ones we are now used to seeing in Cyprus. It is a solar thermal park i.e. we use mirrors, curved mirrors like the ones Archimedes is said to have used in 212 BC in the naval battle of Syracuse. We will concentrate the sun's energy in a central point in front of each mirror which will heat a storehouse of heat. We will be using a completely environmentally sound material that absorbs and retains heat for a week. Think of it as a heat battery that will be used at will by a connected machine in each mirror that will produce electricity and which will then be fed into the grid. For Cyprus this is particularly important, especially today when the energy distribution network is facing load problems. Facilities without storage when the grid does not need energy are simply disconnected, there is loss and waste. This means that traditional fossil fuel engines run continuously and especially in the evenings when there is no sun. With our system we can provide energy 24/7/365, at any time the grid needs it.
So the technology we will use is patented by us and has received innovation awards and not only puts Cyprus on the map of global energy production from RES, but also puts us on the world map of technology production. Hence, we are supported by major global investors. And all this from a system that does not pollute, uses the sun, stores energy and generally presents absolutely no danger to humans and the environment."
