RES failure causes blackout in Cyprus
Saturday’s 15-minute power outage across Cyprus was linked to problems caused by the increased use of renewable energy sources, particularly photovoltaic panels, according to Sotos Savva, president of the Association of Scientific Power Generation of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (SEPAIK).
“One issue is what happened on Saturday morning, but it also happened at the end of January, namely the sharp reduction in the supply of energy from renewable energy sources (RES) due to a major failure in the forecast of RES production,” he said in a statement to state radio CyBC.
He added that “the second issue is the need to cut production from RES due to the fact that we have a very small power grid for RES, which needs to use a percentage that is around 200-215 megawatts from conventional power plants. That is, with 100% renewable generation, the system cannot operate in a stable manner. To absorb the system’s shocks, whether upward or downward, a contribution of around 200 MW from conventional plants is required.”
When asked why calculations on the amount of electricity needed at any given time from conventional generation are not made, Savva stated that “no one can predict with great accuracy a cloud that will cover Cyprus in a few minutes, which has a small geographical area and where a cloud can affect it and there can be a reduction of 120 MW.”
“On Saturday, in a system with a demand of 500 MW, we saw a reduction in renewable generation of 120 MW or nearly 25% of our total generation. It was difficult to compensate from reserves,” he added.
The Transmission System Operator of Cyprus (TSOC) attributed the blackout to a sharp reduction in RES supply, citing a major failure in the RES generation forecast in its statement on Saturday. “This is something we have to accept because we are a small system,” Savva added.
“Storage is one solution in this regard. The Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) has storage proposals, but when it comes to the Dhekelia plant, the EAC trade unions agree on one thing: The generators must be replaced, and smaller and more flexible units must be installed. There is access from the EAC, and in our opinion, the state, ministry, and the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority should give EAC the order to proceed with these units, which is a project that includes energy storage,” Savva stated.
