Filenews 25 June 2024 - by Chrysanthos Manoli
George Chrysochos, CEO of PEC (Power Energy Cyprus, owned by Cyfield), which is building a large conventional power station with a capacity of 260 megawatts in Vasilikos, next to the EAC station, told Phileleftheros that his company has proposed to the state to allow it to make technical modifications to its generators. so that it can produce electricity from diesel and not with natural gas as is their factory specifications.
Mr. Chrysochos also spoke a while ago to Triton of CyBC, where he argued that no new electricity unit is needed in Dhekelia to cover the adequacy of electricity in the coming years.
As Mr. Chrysochos told "F", EAC's new generators in Dhekelia (80 megawatts) will not be useful when natural gas is imported into Cyprus (since there is currently no plan to transport natural gas to Dhekelia), while their own units will continue to operate with natural gas, at much cheaper prices.
However, officials of state and semi-government services with whom we spoke about PEC's position that the installation of new generators in Dhekelia should not be promoted, told "F" that the production boost in Dhekelia is not only aimed at covering electricity adequacy, but primarily at ensuring system stability. As they stressed, the Cypriot electricity system cannot operate safely without satisfactory -on a permanent basis- electricity production from the eastern part of the system, namely Dhekelia. They reiterated their concerns that the dependence of the system on electricity production only from the western part (Vasilikos) poses very serious risks to the balance of the system but also to a very painful blackout in case of failures in Dhekelia or other unforeseen situations.
The positions of CERA and the Transmission System Operator have been accepted by the Government. As "F" recently wrote, the President of the Republic and the Minister of Energy have instructed EAC to urgently "run" the procedures for the installation of the two new gas turbines in Dhekelia in 2025 and at the same time a derogation will be requested from the EU, so as not to raise the issue of conflict with the acquis communautaire regarding state aid legislation.
