Filenews 2 March 2025 - by Chrysanthos Manoli
The President of the Republic is preparing to cut tomorrow with his family the "Lent mutti" and the next day, at the Presidential Palace, he is expected to cut the wings of those who try to maintain the current impasse regarding the protection of the electricity system, the strengthening of production in Dhekelia, the storage installation in EAC substations under the management of the Transmission Operator and the creation of conditions for the deactivation of aging steam boilers within it 2029, as foreseen in the latest commitment to the European Commission.
Christodoulides has called a meeting for Tuesday, in the presence of the Energy Minister and EAC leadership, during which all data on current power generation capacities and its prospects for the coming years will be discussed, before and after the expected arrival of natural gas in Vasilikos.
All indications lead to the conclusion that neither the complaint of the Electricity Market Association (SAH) against the government's intentions, nor the prolonged difficulty in taking a decision, shown by the Directorate General for Competition of the EU, seem capable of differentiating the Government's choice to support until the end the installation of two new gas turbines at Dhekelia station, as well as storage systems in Dhekelia and at central level in support of the network.
The Government is deeply dissatisfied and concerned about the Association's choice to make a new attempt to overturn the government's plans, especially at a particularly delicate stage of developments: A few days before the Directorate General for Competition opens its papers. As Fileleftheros has already written a few times, competition officials in Brussels do not take kindly to some aspects of the government's planning and are likely to make public in the coming days the rejection of the Cypriot request to recoup the €150 million expenditure by burdening all consumers and not only EAC, so that the public body does not enter the competitive market with financial burdens related to the needs of the wider electricity system and not specifically of EAC.
Video conferencing and session
We are informed that on Tuesday two more actions will take place, very important for electricity production:
– A teleconference will be held between competent officers of the Energy Service and executives of the Directorate General for Competition, of the European Commission, to discuss the issue of strengthening production from Dhekelia, by the owner of the plant.
– On the same day, after the meeting at the Presidential Palace, the EAC Board of Directors will meet, before which the need for the crucial decision will be raised. That is, the award or not of the tender to one of the companies that submitted proposals for the installation of the two generators in Dhekelia.
The Board's decision
Making a decision by the EAC Board of Directors is not easy. But it is likely to become easier if at the Presidential meeting President Christodoulides clarifies that the generators must be installed as soon as possible, without any further regressions and regardless of their source of funding. And, ultimately, regardless of the Commission's final position on amortising the cost.
Within EAC, there are strong reservations, not about the necessity of upgrading the Dhekelia station, but about the financial burden that EAC will assume on the eve of the operation, perhaps, of the competitive market, for an investment that concerns not so much its own business interests as the wider public benefit and the protection of the electricity system. And -probably- without financial assistance from the customers of private producers – suppliers, who in their vast majority are and will remain commercial-industrial consumers.
A decision by the board on Tuesday is considered by various sources to be urgent, as bidders have informed that if the tender is not awarded within the first week of March, they will withdraw their bids and turn to other prospective buyers. Based on existing data, EAC's choice is that of General Electric (€148 million), as the gas turbines it offers ensure the necessary flexibility for both EAC Generation and Transmission and Distribution Operators.
