Cyprus seeks land for solar parks

• The Electricity Authority of Cyprus has issued a public call to select landowners to lease space for the development of large-scale solar projects.

The Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) has issued an expression of interest to find landowners who are willing to lease property for the development and construction of megawatt-scale PV power plants.

It has directed the public call at private citizens, private enterprises, and local public entities. Interested landowners have until the end of this year to express interest.

According to Philenews, a Greek-language news site, the minimum offered area will be 30,000 square meters. In a previous call, held in 2017, the minimum area was set at 65,000 square meters.

In 2017, the country’s Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry announced a new plan to facilitate the development of 212.5 MW of renewable energy, designed to compete in the country’s wholesale electricity market.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, Cyprus had an installed PV capacity of 113 MW by the end of 2018. Its solar energy target is 360 MW by 2020.