The southern part of the island began supplying electricity to the Turkish Cypriot side

The Republic of Cyprus began supplying electricity to the Turkish Cypriot side on the evening of August 24 amid power supply problems in the north of the island. Harry Zavallis, deputy director of operations at the electricity transmission system operator, said that under the current confidence-building measure, between 20 and 50 megawatts of electricity would be transmitted from 15:30 until midnight.

The volume of supplies will depend on the needs of the Turkish Cypriot side and available capacity. Ahmet Tugcu, leader of the El-Sen electricity workers’ union, said that by 16:30, 40 megawatts of electricity was already being transmitted to the north. According to Tugcu, the disruptions are linked to seasonal maintenance of the power grid. He also noted that glass insulators are used in the north, and replacing them requires considerable expense and time. Tugcu said that more modern silicone insulators are easier to clean, cheaper and quicker to install. Earlier, power supply disruptions affected both parts of the island. In the south, the problems occurred following a failure in the automatic control system for supplying electricity from solar power plants.

As a result, the Republic of Cyprus had previously purchased 30 megawatts of electricity from the Turkish Cypriot side. Later, the problems also spread to the north.

According to Tugcu, one of the reasons for the problems in the north is the lack of a baseload power plant that could continuously provide the minimum required amount of electricity.

When consumption rises, the additional load falls on the Teknecik power plant near Kyrenia and the Kalecik power plant near Trikomo, creating problems for outdated equipment.