Opinion
By Yiannos Stavrinides
A healthy electricity market requires a sustainable electricity grid as basic infrastructure for the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of the system. That importance grows in the energy transition, where generation relies more heavily on renewable sources marked by variability and intermittent output.
A sustainable grid incorporates storage technologies that capture surplus renewable energy when production runs high and release it when output falls. This keeps electricity flowing steadily, regardless of weather.
It also draws on smart-grid tools such as sensors, digital control systems, and advanced monitoring platforms. These balance supply and demand in real time, yielding tighter resource management, lower losses, and smoother integration of decentralized generation units.
Flexibility matters equally: the grid’s capacity to absorb power from many small, geographically scattered producers rather than depending solely on a handful of large plants.
At the same time, a sustainable grid delivers high efficiency and resilience. It trims transmission and distribution losses and handles extreme weather, sudden demand spikes, or other disruptions without widespread outages.
Finally, developing such a grid is a core instrument for meeting decarbonization targets and cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. It opens the door to greater shares of clean energy in the mix, strengthening energy security and the country’s long-term sustainability.
Cyprus remains one of the few European Union members that still generate electricity almost entirely from petroleum fuels, mainly heavy fuel oil and diesel. Despite repeated announcements about introducing natural gas, the country continues to rely on an expensive and environmentally damaging model. The result is higher electricity bills for households and businesses and elevated greenhouse-gas emissions.
For years natural gas has been cast as the transitional fix that would lower generation costs and emissions. Yet commercial-scale use has still not materialized. The delay leaves the country locked in an unsustainable energy regime. A clear case is the combined-cycle gas turbine unit at Vasilikos, maintained and upgraded for years to accept natural gas but still short of the role for which it was designed.
The real solution will not arrive with natural gas alone. It will come from a full upgrade of the electricity grid, adequate energy-storage infrastructure, and greater system flexibility and resilience so the network can meet the demands of the energy transition.
Many of these projects could already be well advanced if the Republic of Cyprus had deployed the resources of the Recovery and Resilience Plan of August 2021, totaling €1 billion, more strategically and effectively, along with the further €1 billion available through low-interest loans.
