Filenews 12 August 2023
Cyprus is proceeding with the inclusion of a new RePowerEU fund in the NRRP to leverage €104.6 million of additional funding for the European Commission's plan to make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels.
To achieve this objective, a total of nine measures have been proposed for inclusion in this chapter, five existing RDP measures with scale up, and four new measures (two investments and two reforms).
These measures aim to reduce Cyprus' energy needs and, by extension, its dependence on imported fossil fuels, by enhancing investments in energy efficiency improvements of the building stock, promoting clean transport, accelerating the penetration of renewable energy sources, as well as providing incentives to develop new and innovative technologies to effectively address existing vulnerabilities/bottlenecks in the energy system and accelerate the green transition.
One of the measures included in the RePowerEU chapter concerns the promotion of renewable energy sources and individual energy efficiency measures in housing, as well as tackling energy poverty in households with disabilities or vulnerable electricity consumers with a budget of €35.4 million.
The first part concerns the provision of grants to at least 16,200 dwellings for roof thermal insulation and/or for the installation of a photovoltaic system and/or for the installation or replacement of solar water heating (SWH) systems of an existing dwelling.
Furthermore, the second investment will support the implementation of small-scale energy renovations, such as thermal insulation and energy-efficient equipment, to at least 270 households with energy poverty, as well as to households with persons with disabilities. The implementation of the investment will be completed by 30 June 2026.
€11 million is proposed to be allocated to encourage the use of renewable energy sources and energy saving by local authorities/the wider public sector and facilitate the transition of local communities towards climate change mitigation and adaptation.
The third measure concerns the promotion of the widespread use of electric vehicles with an additional budget of €8 million.
The fourth plan is for the enhancement of their competitiveness and the energy upgrade of large enterprises in Cyprus €10 million. and the fifth concerns a thematic research and innovation funding programme related to the green transition of €6 million.
Two new proposed measures – reforms concern the introduction of a regulatory framework for the operation of energy communities with a budget of €90,000 and the establishment of a regulatory framework for the connection of electric vehicle recharging points to the distribution network amounting to €60,000. At the same time, the inclusion of two new investment measures is proposed.
The first concerns the promotion of an extensive energy upgrade of the housing stock with an available budget of €30 million. and the second the thematic research in enterprises for energy production, storage, transmission and distribution solutions with a budget of €4 million.
47 of the 133 measures are amended
The government is proceeding with a significant modification of 47 of the 133 measures of the NRRP, as it emerged after evaluating the progress made so far in the implementation of the Plan and identifying cases where the achievement of milestones / targets in the NRRP becomes unfeasible due to objective circumstances, such as the increase in raw material prices and supply chain disruptions.
These amendments mainly concern the time shifting of intermediate milestones/targets, the modification of the wording in the descriptions of measures/milestones/targets to make them clearer or remove restrictive terms and in limited cases the reduction of targets.
Due to objective circumstances, it is also proposed to remove one measure in its entirety (animal waste treatment plant in Orounta), the implementation of which has not yet started and it is not feasible to complete it within the time frame of the RRP, as well as the partial removal of two other measures (removal of the Larnaca Technical School, the implementation of which is expected to be promoted through the Cohesion Policy Funds and the transaction recording platform in the local area). purchase of fresh products, the implementation of which cannot be promoted as planned).
