Filenews 15 July 2025 - by Chrysanthos Manoli
A final decision has not yet been taken by EAC regarding the tender that is "running" for the upgrade of the power plant in Dhekelia with gas turbines of about 80-90 megawatts.
However, the information of the Liberal states that it seems unlikely that EAC will utilize any of the six, as it sounds unofficial, different proposals received from two contractors, TERNA and AVAX, for Siemens, Mitsubishi and General Electric generators.
This time he cannot hide the fact that the main reason why the decision to reject these proposals also wins points is economic. Executives of the Electricity Authority believe that it is unprofitable for the viability of the units and the Dhekelia station to purchase generators at a cost of about 180-200 million euros. About a year and a half ago, the calculations of the people of EAC limited the cost to about €80 million.
A very serious additional reason why EAC is oriented - without having taken a final decision - to reject the new proposals from the two contractors is the inability to deliver the gas turbines for use in the summer of 2026 or the summer of 2027. Given the well-founded concerns of those responsible for operating the electricity system of Cyprus that in the three-year period 2026 – 2028 there will be a serious problem of electricity sufficiency, for a few hours in a few months, it is considered that these offers do not respond to short-term needs and problems.
And used
The Liberal Party's information states that the cancellation of the tender and the announcement of a new, open tender should be considered quite a possible scenario, in the context of which generators of any technology can be offered, as well as used generators, which can, if deemed suitable, reliable and advantageous, be installed faster.
At least one company in Austria has already expressed interest in selling generators to EAC that it withdrew from its power plant, but the current tender process does not allow for an examination of this offer now.
Mobile – modular units
However, we are informed that in the context of the tender that is in progress, one of the two participating contractors spoke of its ability to offer three General Electric (TM25000-GE9) mobile gas turbine units (modular), with a capacity of about 28 megawatts each, which have been operating at another station outside Cyprus for about 300-350 hours and are considered, by the bidder, essentially brand new and functional for the emergency needs of the Transmission Operator.
These gas turbines operate using natural gas or diesel (but there is still no plan for gas to be transported to Dhekelia, if and when it is made available to Vassilikos), with a very quick response to the needs of EAC and the Transmission Operator for urgent electricity production in order to stabilize the system.
What is unofficially mentioned is that this proposal concerns the delivery of General Electric's gas turbines for use for the summer of 2026, which is very important for the EAC and the electricity system in general. However, the issue of excessive costs obviously applies to a large extent to this proposal as well.
It is not clear whether the proposal has been officially submitted to EAC or if this will be done in the near future. Sources in EAC we asked expressed ignorance of an official proposal for this content. And there are doubts as to whether used generators, even for a short time, can be evaluated in this competition.
What can be done with the 6th unit
We are also informed that EAC is considering the possibility of utilizing the contract it signed with the Greek TERNA for the installation of the 6th unit in Vassilikos, which is essentially ready and offered for use but only with natural gas, except for a few hundred hours per year when diesel could also be used, on an emergency basis.
What the EAC technicians will examine is whether the hours allowed by the contract to use diesel instead of natural gas (unconfirmed information speaks of about 500 hours) can cover the emergency needs of additional electricity generation to meet demand for 3-4 hours between 6 and 10 p.m. in summer or 2-3 hours (6-9 p.m.) in some cases spring and winter. when they do not produce photovoltaics and sometimes there are needs beyond the available units of the EAC. No decision has been taken on this issue so far, but we have also heard the opinion that if unit 6 can finally be used, even for limited hours, from 2026 (the offer was given for 160 million euros, for 160 megawatts of power), the adequacy problems will be reduced to some extent.
At the same time, the Operator and the EAC will (should) run the procedures for storage in the network and storage at EAC Production, in Dhekelia, in order to cover the adequacy problems in 2026 or 2027. Actions for the rapid installation of storage are now also being taken by licensed private producers of photovoltaics, after a long inactivity to utilize the permits they received from CERA.
