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Cyprus
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The Government of Cyprus, in conjunction
with the Applied Energy Center of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry
and Tourism of Cyprus
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Cyprus is completely dependent
on imported fossil fuels, which is strenuous on both the economy and
the environment. In 1997, energy imports corresponded to 61 per cent
of the country’s total domestic exports and 9.1 per cent of the
total imports for home consumption. For this reason, the use of solar
power as an alternative energy source is extremely beneficial if not
necessary. Solar water heaters were first pro-duced and installed in
1960. Since then, a remarkable expansion in the use of solar water heaters
has taken place, ranking the country among the leaders in terms of total
number of solar water heaters in use per person. The Government of Cyprus
in partnership with the Applied Energy Center of the Ministry of Commerce,
Industry and Tourism helped expand the promotion of solar energy. It
made the production materials duty-free, provided technical support
for the preparation of relevant standards and made the installation
of solar water heaters compulsory on state-built housing. However, the
most important factor contributing to this proj-ect was the enterprising
industry, which correctly identified the prime application of solar
water heaters and boosted the improvement of technology and promotion
of the systems. It also provided technical support that consisted of
testing collectors and advising the industry and consumers about the
improvement of products and their efficient utilization. In the domestic
sector, the payback period of a typical solar system is estimated to
be around four years.
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• Energy Resources (Chapter VII of
the Barbados Programme of Action)
• Regional Institutions and Technical Cooperation (Chapter
XI of the (BPoA)
• Science and Technology (Chapter XIII of the BPoA)
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• At the beginning of 1999, approximately
92 per cent of the households and 50 per cent of the hotels in Cyprus
had solar water heating systems.
• Cyprus is one of the leading countries in terms of installed
solar collectors per capita, 0.86 m 2 of solar collector per capita.
• There are currently a number of small and large solar water heater
manufacturers in Cyprus, employing about 300 people and producing about
35 m 2 of solar collectors annually.
• The estimated current area of installed solar collectors in Cyprus
is 600 m 2 , and the solar thermal-energy production is 336,000 MW/year.
• Annual savings per square meter of installed collector area in
Cyprus are 550 kwh.
• Consequential to the extensive use of solar heaters, 4 per cent
of total CO2 emissions are avoided, which is approximately 286 tons
of CO2/year.
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The success of the project was due to
the involved partnership among the Government of Cyprus, the enterprising
industry, and the Applied Energy Center of the Ministry of Commerce,
Industry and Tourism. Solar energy as an alternative to imported fossil
fuels has proven to be economically and environmentally beneficial.
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Applied Energy Center
Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Cyprus
Andreas Araouzos, 6
1421 Nicosia
Cyprus
Tel.: (357) 2 305797
Fax: (357) 2 305159
E-mail: Mcienerg@cytanet.com.cy
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