The current challenges of the energy sector and the energy plans of Cyprus and the wider Eastern Mediterranean region were the focus of discussions at the 10th Energy Symposium entitled “Cyprus: energy hub in the Eastern Mediterranean”, which takes place on Thursday in Nicosia.
On behalf of the organisers, Financial Media Way CEO Iosif Iosif welcomed the participants and stressed that the energy symposium seeks to shed light on the landscape of three pillars of energy, namely natural gas, electricity and renewable energy.
The Chairman and Executive Director of the Institute of Energy of Southeast Europe, Costis Stambolis, said in his address that the main challenge today is the energy transition, while he also focused on the Greece-Cyprus axis, which offers many opportunities for synergies across the energy spectrum.
In his own message, CCCI President Christodoulos Agastiniotis noted that the energy resources of the Cyprus EEZ can change the strategic data in the region and make Cyprus a pole of stability and security in the South-Eastern Mediterranean, as well as a regional energy centre in the effort to decouple from Russian gas.
Hellenic Bank’s Chief Banking Officer Phivos Stasopoulos referred to the bank’s investments in the energy sector and especially in renewable energy sources, such as the Alexigros and Orites wind farms, while he also mentioned indicative credit products that offer more favourable borrowing terms based on ecological criteria.
In her speech, President of the House of Representatives Annita Demetriou said that Cyprus, as a key partner of the Eastern Mediterranean countries with hydrocarbon reserves, has the potential to make a substantial contribution to the Union’s independence from energy imports from Russia, both through the development and exploitation of its energy reserves, but also as an energy hub for the hydrocarbon reserves of the wider Eastern Mediterranean region.
In order to achieve this goal, she continued, there is a need to take decisive and holistic action for the development and exploitation of our country’s natural gas reserves as a fuel to bridge the transition to renewable energy sources, adding, however, that, considering the planned gradual elimination of hydrocarbons from the energy mix imposed by both the European Green Agreement and the global action against the climate crisis, the implementation of our plans should be immediate.
Cyprus’ actions in the energy sector should also cover a wide range of activities capable of opening the way for the transition of our country to renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, wind energy, but also the transition to clean forms of energy of the future, such as hydrogen.
Demetriou added that measures should be taken to strengthen the electricity transmission and distribution network of Cyprus, so that it has the necessary capacity for increased production of electricity from renewables, a perspective to which the EuroAsia Interconnector cable will make a decisive contribution.
House President said that it is also necessary for Cyprus to strengthen research, development and installation of electricity storage systems, as well as to pursue the conclusion of electricity interconnection agreements with other neighbouring countries, while she assured that the House of Representatives remains supportive of the effort to create a competitive electricity market.
The floor was then given to Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry, Natasa Pilides, who said in her speech that given the need to import gas from alternative sources, the EU has created a platform for the common market for natural gas, in which Egypt and Israel can already participate, while Cyprus has the opportunity to contribute, with gas discoveries in the Cypriot EEZ estimated at 340-420 bcm.
In relation to the exploitation of hydrocarbons in the Republic of Cyprus, the Energy Minister said that nine exploration and one exploitation licence have been granted, while a total of eight companies were operating in the EEZ of the Republic of Cyprus.
In total, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she continued, $200 million worth of work has been done within the Cypriot EEZ, the A3 drilling in the Aphrodite field is scheduled for 2023, seismic surveys have been completed in Blocks 10 and 5, and the process following the drilling in Zeus-1 to collect additional data in relation to the findings of the Kronos-1 drilling earlier this year in Block 6.
In relation to electricity interconnections, Pilides referred to the EuroAsia Interconnector, which envisages the electricity interconnection between Cyprus, Greece, Israel, and said that construction work will start before the end of the year, as well as the LNG import terminal (FSRU), which is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2023.
The Minister also spoke about the current situation with regard to renewables, saying that the use of renewables in gross final consumption in 2020 was over 17% compared to the mandatory target of 13%, while the use of renewables in electricity generation was over 12% in 2020. She also presented preliminary figures for 2021, according to which the participation of RES in electricity generation was around 15%, which could even exceed 20% were it not for problems related to the need to upgrade the electricity grid, which is being rolled out with investments included in the “Cyprus-Tomorrow” plan and other funds, and the need for storage projects.
In his address, delivered by the Ambassador of Greece to Cyprus, Ioannis Papameletiou, the Minister of Environment and Energy of Greece, Kostas Skrekas, said that Greece and Cyprus can make a decisive contribution to the achievement of the strategic choice to decouple from Russian hydrocarbon imports by 2027, by becoming both producers and exporters of natural gas through the exploitation of the potential deposits located in their maritime jurisdictional zones, and by achieving their energy transition through the production of more clean energy, for which a key prerequisite is the existence of strong electrical interconnections, such as the EuroAsia Interconnector.
The start of its operation in 2027, Skrekas continued, will end Cyprus’ energy isolation and will help it to achieve its green transition goals and exploit its large solar potential. Greece stands by this effort, he said, referring to his participation in the inauguration of the project in Nicosia.
In the gas sector, he said that the pact signed between the EU, Egypt and Israel last June can facilitate the procedures for the production and export of Cypriot gas to the EU through Egyptian liquefaction terminals, the construction of new floating terminals, as well as the implementation of high-capacity pipelines, such as the EastMed pipeline.
Moreover, according to a statement by Energean, the company will take decisions in 2023 and, most likely, in the first half of the year on how to develop the new gas fields it has discovered during its drilling programme in the sea of Israel.
As Energean’s Vice President in Greece Dr. Konstantinos Nikolaou said at the Energy Symposium, the export via pipeline to Cyprus with FLNG liquefaction and further export to European markets, is among the prospects the company is considering for the exploitation of the new fields, with the other two scenarios the company is looking at being the export of gas to Egypt and the channelling of additional volumes, beyond the already contracted 7.2 bcm per year to the domestic market in Israel.
According to Dr. Nicolaou, Cyprus is a strategically important country for Energean’s activity and if the project is implemented the benefits for the Republic of Cyprus will be very significant, as the country will become a natural gas hub without having to make investments itself and its geopolitical role will be upgraded at a time when the European Union is looking for new sources of gas supply.
At the same time, he noted that Cyprus’ cooperation with Israel and Greece will be further strengthened, while in the case that the Republic of Cyprus wants to use gas for domestic use, security of supply and competition will be enhanced for the benefit of the Cypriot economy and consumers.
Source: Cyprus News Agency