Even if Cyprus wanted to cut emissions from electricity here and now, by scaling back the EAC’s oil-fired power stations to the bare minimum, it couldn’t.
I doubt there is a sane person in Cyprus who wouldn’t want the EAC to generate less. Provided, of course, that demand could be met around the clock by other sources, cheaper and cleaner ones.
Forget the environment. Forget the climate crisis.
Less generation from the EAC automatically means fewer emissions. The EAC has precious few solar panels, mind, but the ones it has deliver by far the cheapest solar power on the market once it reaches your bill. Fewer emissions mean a lower price per kilowatt hour. Who would say no to that? Not even the EAC’s own staff. This column puts its name to that.
Then there’s the competitive electricity market, that stroke of genius Euro-zealots in a hurry loaded onto our backs. Under it, the more it costs to buy emissions in power generation, the more private solar producers can charge for their dirt-cheap electricity at certain times of day. And so can the middlemen, the suppliers. They, presumably, don’t want the emissions burden on the final price to come down. After all, they’re cashing in.
We do. And we want the government to want it too. Happily, this government does. It proved it again yesterday at the stormy opening session of the summit of the 27, lining up squarely with the countries (ten of them, though don’t hold me to that) that want the emissions trading system changed. For Cyprus, that system is a brutal penalty on ordinary Cypriots, because our governments failed to wean us off oil and failed even to make sure cheap solar power reached every consumer. Even the laughable 5 to 10 per cent discount on the EAC’s generation cost is pocketed by large commercial consumers through their contracts. Everyone else, meaning the 400,000-odd households and the micro-businesses (forget the SMEs), can sink or swim.
When Cyprus trumpets its renewables, it means almost nothing but solar. And solar has been proven beyond all doubt unable to cover the island’s energy needs for even five minutes after sunset. Look at the Transmission System Operator’s graphs: from 2 or 3pm onwards, even in summer, the panels start pulling down the shutters.
Frankly, the lack of storage for green energy is not our problem. Some people scrambled to buy or lease, for a pittance, the most godforsaken rocky scrubland in the most neglected corners of the island, with no grid connection, to put up their solar farms. Now they want us to rush through a multi-billion expansion of the grid to squeeze them in too. They should have thought to add a battery or two. And yes, the state should have provided storage on the grid long ago, centralised and, above all, state-owned. It did so, belatedly, and we expect it to be running in 2027. All under this government, under Papanastasiou, thanks to the persistence of the unions and the EAC’s previous management. Somebody has to say it, and anyone who doesn’t like it can sulk.
Back to emissions. Countries such as Italy, the Czech Republic, Greece, France, apparently, Spain and others have power interconnections. They have round-the-clock renewables beyond our crippled solar, or cheap nuclear power. When they are screaming blue murder (only yesterday!) that the CO2 emissions trading system is turning into daylight robbery from the pockets of households and businesses, imagine the scale of the heist for Cypriot consumers. We can’t look to interconnections with cheaper or stronger grids. We can’t have cheaper or more reliable renewables around the clock. We can’t feed cleaner generation into the system, because the… bleeping natural gas is sitting off Limassol, nowhere near the EAC’s pipework. Are you punishing us for voting in the wrong governments? We’ve tried everything, and nothing worked. Have a heart.
By rights, Mr President, if we didn’t have the Cyprus problem round our necks, you would tell them: “Either you let us off the emissions hook, since we can’t cut them, hopeless as we’ve proven to be, or we say no to everything.” If nothing else, Mr President, let’s ask them to take pity on us. Take that as a joke.
The trading (!) of greenhouse gas emission allowances from power generation, cement and other heavy industry within the EU is called the ETS. It is a stock market with its hand in our pockets. It has been running for years, costing European consumers billions and making billions for producers and suppliers, and for state coffers too. If you’ve noticed any improvement in the climate or the environment, answers on a Viber, please.
ETS2 is another sly EU wheeze to overcharge us for every litre of petrol or diesel we burn getting about or moving goods. A green tax. They call it green to sweet-talk the Omonia faithful.
The Brussels boys had decided this new shakedown would kick in from 2027. After the drubbing they took, they decided a few days ago to push it back to 2028. Now the outcry from governments (ours included, thankfully!) and the public is forcing the Commission to discuss putting it off until after 2030. The usual Scandinavians are resisting, and so, to an extent, is Germany. We’ll find out today which way it’s going.
And the cost of emissions from power generation? We may not find out even today. They may toss us another sop along the lines of “the Commission has been tasked with looking into it and reporting back”. Don’t expect Ursula to bust a gut. At least Cyprus is on the right side of pricing. Or of history, if you prefer. And if you’re waiting for Germany and France to tip the scales in favour of us consumers, this column’s friendly advice: don’t bet much on it.
