The government of Cyprus has confirmed financial support will be made available for renewable energy projects paired with energy storage.
The Mediterranean island country’s Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry announced last week (14 November) that the government Council of Ministers had approved the €35 million (US$36.89 million) scheme that day.
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The Sponsorship Plan for Energy Storage Systems combined with Renewable Energy Sources (RES) will see what the ministry described as ‘investment support’ for hybrid renewables-plus-storage projects awarded through competitive solicitations.
The scheme is being funded through the European Union (EU) via its Just Transition Fund, through which support is offered to EU Member States expected to be the “most negatively impacted by the transition toward climate-neutrality”, supporting their economic diversification and retooling.
Last year, the EU and Cyprus agreed that €1 billion would be invested through the JTF in the country between 2021 and 2027. Cyprus has been a full EU Member State since 2004.
In mid-July 2023, shortly after that funding was agreed, the Cypriot Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry (MECI) launched a national policy framework for energy storage systems.
The framework announced the government’s intent to fund a network of centralised standalone energy storage systems—which would be installed by MECI, owned by the national energy supplier, Cyprus Energy Authority, and overseen by the Cyprus Transmission System Operator (TSOC).
MECI said at least €40 million would be available for centralised energy storage system (ESS) projects.
The framework also launched a consultation into how best to direct the scheme to support “hybrid” renewable energy projects co-located with ESS. At that time, MECI said the budget for the scheme just approved would be between €10 million and €40 million. After the public consultation, which ended in October this year, the €35 million was settled on.
The Ministry intends to post full details of the new scheme on its website by the end of this month, and expects to open the scheme for submissions in mid-January 2025.
Cyprus, which has a population of about a million, as well as being a popular tourist destination in Europe, is aiming to make renewable energy about 22.9% of final energy consumption across all sectors, including electricity, heating and cooling, and transport by 2030.
The European Union is directly supporting energy storage subsidy and tender schemes in several Member States. Notable recent examples include a 5.4GWh programme in Poland, a 3GWh tender scheme in Bulgaria, and €500 million support for battery energy storage system (BESS) procurements in Croatia.
Despite the unlocking of subsidy support across specific markets, clean energy industry groups have said the European Union needs to go further in encouraging or demanding more policy support and regulatory clarity across the continental bloc.
The Energy Storage Coalition, formed by trade associations in the European solar PV, wind and energy storage industries, is campaigning for the European Commission to adopt a comprehensive ‘Action Plan’ on energy storage.
