The issue of the installation of photovoltaic parks on fertile agricultural land and land consolidation areas is at the center of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture that meets today, opening the file on the implementation of the legislation for the protection of agricultural land and protected areas from uncontrolled installation renewable energy sources (RES) projects. On May 5, 2026, the Promotion and Encouragement of the Use of Renewable Energy Sources (Amendment) Law of 2026 was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic.
Prohibitions
The new law sets a strict ban on the installation of RES installations for commercial purposes within:
• Fertile and/or permanently irrigated land.
• Land within irrigated, dry or mixed land consolidation or areas irrigated by government projects.
• Urban Protection Zones.
• Natura 2000 Sites, Sites of Community Importance (SCIs)/Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs).
Circular clarifications
Despite the clarity of the new framework, serious concern arose regarding the management of hundreds of applications for planning permits submitted to the Provincial Local Government Organizations (HOAs) and the Department of Town Planning and Housing (TPO) before the publication of the amending law.
In order to address this legal gap, the Director of the Department of Town Planning and Housing, following the relevant opinion of the Attorney General of the Republic, sent on August 5, 2026 a clarifying circular to the General Directors of the EOAs (Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos and Famagusta).
According to the circular, applications submitted by February 8, 2026, i.e. at least three months before the publication of the law and deemed complete with all the necessary information, will be examined based on the previous legal status. Applications submitted after February 8, 2026 or those that were incomplete due to the applicant's fault, will be strictly examined under the new prohibition regime. In addition, the Environmental Authority, in a letter dated August 25, 2026, clarified that it will not proceed with an environmental assessment for applications after 8/2/2026, unless it is previously assured that the provisions of the new Law and the Urban Planning Order no. 1/2024.
Terra Cypria Presentations
With a position note to the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Cyprus Foundation for Environmental Protection Terra Cypria recommends the submission of a consolidated and detailed statement by the TPO and the EOAs to the Parliament for all pending RES applications submitted before May 5, 2026.
Terra Cypria emphasizes that, based on the current Rural Policy Statement and the previous guidelines (Environmental Authority Opinion 2022 and Urban Planning Authority Order No. 1/2024), there was already a presumption from the outset against the installation of RES projects on fertile/fertile and irrigated agricultural land, land consolidation areas and urban protection zones, while the siting of such projects was already prohibited in areas of the Natura 2000 network.
The Foundation argues that the competent authorities must, when examining old applications (before February 8, 2026), take into account the need to protect non-replenishable natural resources and reject projects that occupy fertile and irrigated agricultural land, land consolidation areas, urban protection zones and protected areas of the Natura 2000 network.
