TRNC People’s Party: New energy regulation will cut solar energy credit to 60%

Yusuf Avcıoğlu, head of the Energy Committee of the People’s Party (Halkın Partisi), has opposed the draft of a new regulation on renewable energy sources being prepared by the TRNC Ministry of Economy and Energy. According to him, the document does not resolve the problems that have accumulated, but penalises those who are only planning to install solar panels and pushes them towards illegal installations.

At present, Northern Cyprus operates a net-metering system: energy fed into the grid is deducted from the subscriber’s bill. Avcıoğlu acknowledges that the system will have to be changed — its costs have been borne by subscribers without panels — but describes the ministry’s solution as punitive.

For new subscribers who install panels without storage systems, the draft introduces four restrictions: a 60% crediting rate instead of full credit, a ban on crediting during peak hours, payment for consumption during peak hours at the most expensive tariff, and a grid-use charge linked to the minimum wage. In Avcıoğlu’s view, taking away 40% of the energy supplied to the grid without technical or financial justification makes it impossible to recoup the investment.

In the EU and the US, he notes, the trend is instead towards a net-billing model, which encourages the use of storage through economic incentives rather than penalties.

He has separate objections to the mandatory batteries that the draft indirectly introduces for all new systems, including private homes. According to Avcıoğlu, the text only states that “a battery will be installed”, without specifying battery chemistry or fire-safety standards. He asks whether the TRNC fire service has the equipment and training needed to extinguish lithium-ion battery fires.

Avcıoğlu added that there are more than 1,000 illegal systems with storage in the country, while the draft provides neither an amnesty nor registration nor sanctions for them, even though the legal route involves quotas and a wait of more than a year. Another point of contention is the opening of first-, second- and third-class agricultural land for solar installations under the name Agro-PV. Avcıoğlu called on the government to abandon the draft.