Cyprus electricity outages persist due to technical failure

A technical issue causing widespread electricity outages in southern Cyprus remains unresolved. Chara Kusiappa, an official responsible for transmission at the Cyprus Electricity Authority, stated that while the problem persists, alternative methods are being used to meet energy demands. The disruption originated from a coordination issue between solar power plants and the energy coordination center, resulting in a loss of 100 megawatts of production.

The outages affected several areas, including parts of Nicosia and Limassol. During the blackout, dozens of people were reportedly trapped in elevators, requiring fire department assistance. The electricity authority has since established backup connections between solar plants and the control center to prevent recurrence and issued an apology.

Ahmet Tuğcu, President of the Cyprus Turkish Electricity Authority Workers' Union (EL-SEN), noted that the issue impacted the entire island due to the interconnected nature of the two electrical grids. While the southern authority purchased 30 megawatts from the north to mitigate the crisis, the lack of a base load plant in the north meant that certain machinery remained offline. However, these issues did not lead to direct power outages in the north.