Cyprus Energy Resources
Dhekelia Power Plant
Courtesy Embassy of Cyprus, Washington
Cyprus had an unfortunate energy situation. The island
had no
known deposits of mineral fuels, and the lack of rivers
that flowed
year-round made significant generation of hydroelectric
power
impossible. The island did have a great amount of
sunlight,
however, and in the government-controlled sector about 35
percent
of houses were fitted with rooftop solar panels for
heating water.
By 1990 Cyprus was one of the world's foremost users of
solar
energy. The only other domestic source of energy was
firewood.
Petroleum, all of it imported, supplied about 95
percent of the
island's energy. Oil imports consumed about 50 percent of
foreign
exchange earnings in some years. Imported crude was
processed by
the Larnaca refinery of the Cyprus Petroleum Refinery Ltd.
In 1989
this refinery had a capacity of 17,000 barrels a day, or
800,000
tons a year. Major users imported their own heavy fuel oil
directly
via oil terminals at Larnaca, Dhekelia, to the east of
Larnaca, and
Moni, near Limassol.
The largest single user of petroleum, consuming about
35
percent of the total, was the Electricity Authority of
Cyprus
(EAC), a public corporation founded in 1952. The EAC was
responsible for nearly all of the island's generation,
transmission, and distribution of electric power. The
"Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus" ("TRNC") had no significant
power
plants and received its electricity from the EAC. As of
1990 it had
not paid for any of this power.
In 1989 the EAC produced 1.84 gigawatt-hour from three
oilfired thermal stations, two at Dhekelia (one old plant
with a
capacity of 42 megawatts, used only in emergencies, and a
new plant
with a capacity of 240 megawatts), and one at Moni, near
Limassol,
with a capacity of 180 megawatts. EAC also had a few small
standby
diesel plants. A number of industrial operations had their
own
generating facilities. At the beginning of the 1990s,
there were
plans to construct a coal-fired power plant at Vasilikos
to reduce
petroleum dependency, but environmental concerns may
prevent its
being built.
Data as of January 1991
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