There are many who believe that the magic solution to all the problems surrounding the production and consumption of electricity from renewable sources is storage. EU countries have already realized that, just as the mass installation of commercial photovoltaic and wind farms was not enough to "green" a large part of electricity production and reduce costs to the final consumer, so now storage is not enough. Much more is needed, falling within the realm of timely and reliable planning and preparing the grid to absorb production.
And a socially just green energy trading system is also needed, so that consumers can benefit equally from the reduced cost of electricity.
The column lacks technical knowledge to explain the pitfalls we read that exist in the big chapter of commercial electricity storage and the horrible possibility that storage will make electricity even more expensive in electrically isolated Cyprus, of the height and depth of demand.
We read on the website energypress.gr an article by an energy technocrat, which refers to these issues and in fact for countries that already have more experience than us in the production and consumption of electricity from RES but also experience from storage. His name is Georgios Stasimiotis, Mechanical Engineer, M.Sc., M.B.A. and he works as General Manager of Project Management, Operation, etc. at "Mesogeio Energy".
The text comments on the legal and regulatory framework around RES in Greece. Take it for granted that some of the wrongs he points out are even worse in Cyprus.
At the first opportunity we will republish the article from energypress. For now, we are quoting some paragraphs that are likely to make us think about it here.
1. "No one who knows the energy identity of the Greek market could believe that the issue of storage is only technological. Storage isn't just batteries; It is an institutional framework. It's a business model. They are rules of operation. It is a way of participating in the markets. It is regulatory clarity."
2. "The same applies to networks. We cannot talk about massive penetration of RES without timely and systematic investments in the electricity grids. We cannot encourage investments and then find that the system cannot absorb them."
3. "When clean energy is produced but not absorbed, who pays for the lost production? When we have zero or negative values, who benefits and who bears the cost?"
4. "Those who live in Jerusalem know that in the energy markets the value is not only in production. It is also found in consumption. It lies in flexibility. It lies in imbalance. The ability to store, balance, compensate or exploit the weaknesses of the system. This in itself is not necessarily wrong. A modern energy market needs flexibility, storage, and balancing services. The problem begins when distortion ceases to be a transitory phenomenon and begins to look like a repetitive business model."
5. "The question becomes political, economic and social: When will the end consumer see the sun and the wind not only in the announcements for the green transition, but also in their own family planning?
6. "The social acceptance of RES is not a given. It is not enough to tell citizens that green energy is cheap if they see complex bills, uncertainty, local reactions, cuts, charges and ambiguity."
7. "The green transition will not be judged only by the installed MW. It will be judged by whether their value really reaches the economy, businesses and households. Sun, wind, water, biomass, can produce cheap energy. The question is whether we have the strategy, the seriousness and the credibility to make this value a real benefit for everyone."
