The Cypriot Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Neoclis Sylikiotis, has announced the results of his departments call for tender for 50MW of PV capacity in Cyprus.
Following the call for tender, Sylikiotis revealed that 121 investors had submitted 2,150 project proposals over four auctions. Only 23 solar projects were approved with a combined capacity of 50MW.
The plants, which vary in size from 1MW to 10MW, will be built under the Cypriot government’s renewable energy programme. When complete, these projects are projected to generate around 80GWh of electricity every year.
According to the ministry, the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) will be able to purchase the solar power generated from the plants at a rate which is significantly lower than the price it surrently pays for electricity generated from fossil fuels. Indeed, the ministry revealed that EAC would expect to pay on average €0.09 (US$0.12) per kWh compared with the current price of €0.15, which indicates a saving of up to 44%.
