Record electricity demand has been recorded over the past three days, but the addition of two extra generating units to the system on Thursday helped prevent the power cuts experienced a day earlier.
Harry Zavallis, assistant director of the Transmission System Operator's National Energy Control Centre, told Politis that electricity demand reached a new all-time high on Thursday afternoon, peaking at 1,372MW, compared with 1,341MW on Wednesday and 1,321MW on Tuesday.
"The previous record was set on 22 July 2024, when demand reached 1,289MW," he said.
According to Zavallis, the commissioning of new units by the Electricity Authority of Cyprus at Dhekelia and Vasilikos has strengthened generation capacity, while reserve capacity has also contributed to maintaining system stability.
Demand is expected to be lower on Friday as many people leave urban areas for the weekend, while lower temperatures are also expected to ease pressure on the grid.
Concerns over long-term planning
Wednesday's power cuts triggered strong public and political reaction, with many arguing that the problem has existed for years.
Electrical engineer and energy specialist Christakis Hadjilaou said the generation shortfall was predictable rather than unexpected.
Speaking to Politis radio, he said warnings had been issued as early as February 2025 that Cyprus would face supply challenges during the summer of 2026.
"We had warned that there would be adequacy problems in electricity generation during the summer of 2026, but complacency and inaction appear to have prevailed among those responsible," he said.
DISY and AKEL criticism
In a statement, DISY argued that the power cuts were the result of delays in developing energy storage infrastructure.
"The problem is not only increased demand or faults at generation units. It is primarily the significant delay in developing energy storage facilities that would allow renewable energy generation to be utilised and support the system during peak hours," the party said.
AKEL secretary-general Stefanos Stefanou described the outages as evidence of what he called the failure of energy policy in recent years.
"Cyprus was not left in the dark by chance. It was left in the dark because the Anastasiades-DISY and Christodoulides governments failed to prepare the country," he said.
He added that consumers are already paying some of the highest electricity prices in Europe and bearing the cost of emissions charges.
Private producer ready to contribute
Meanwhile, Cyfield said it is ready to help strengthen Cyprus' energy security through the operation of Power Energy Cyprus (PEC), the country's first private electricity generation station.
The company said the facility is ready to begin operations within the coming weeks.
