Cyprus had its highest-ever electricity demand of 1.290 MW on Monday, with renewables accounting for 42%, according to Rogiros Tapakis, a deputy spokesperson for the Transmission System Operator Cyprus (TSOC).
The increased demand straining the transmission operator is due to the excessive heat that affects the island, with temperatures consistently exceeding 40 degrees Celsius during the day and remaining exceedingly hot at night.
Yesterday, the TSOC published a press release urging the public to minimise electricity usage between 18:00 and 22:00 local time, as electricity from photovoltaic panels is lowered and finally zeroed out, with conventional production and wind turbines covering the remaining need.
“Due to reduced solar production and some limitations to the transmission system due to the heat wave and high humidity some limits to the electricity flow to urban centres has been estimated by the TSOC”, Tapakis explained.
He added that the Operator programmed to make use of conventional production and generation from wind turbines along with a plan for load curtailments if necessary. “No outage was reported and everything went smoothly,” Tapakis added.
Regarding today’s demand, Tapakis said demand currently seems reduced, despite that fact that earlier demand was slightly higher than the respective demand in the same hours yesterday.
Noting that weather reports predict temperatures by 1 degree lower than yesterday, Tapakis said the TSOC expects lower demand during day time.
He added that barring any outage to an electricity production unit or the grid, no load curtailments are expected today.
( Source: CNA)
