Power cuts that occurred in various areas across Cyprus on Friday were caused by a technical fault in the telecommunications system used to transmit data from solar parks to the Cyprus Electricity Authority’s Distribution Control Centre, the EAC’s Spokesperson, Christina Papadopoulou, told CNA, adding that the latest power cut early on Saturday morning was due to a fault in the electricity grid in the island’s Turkish-occupied territories.
According to Papadopoulou, the EAC’s power generation units did not experience any problems either yesterday or today.
‘Today’s disruption was the result of a problem that arose in the occupied territories due to the fact that the two grids are connected at two points, as part of the Confidence Building Measures. Yesterday’s problem was not due to generation or the grid but to telecommunications, as a telecommunications link is required between the large solar parks, through which data is transmitted to the EAC’s Distribution Control Centre,’ she explained.
She added that the Authority is continuing its investigation in collaboration with the telecommunications provider in order to determine the exact cause of the problem, while, at the same time, steps are being taken to install a backup telecommunications line between the solar parks and the EAC’s Distribution Control Centre to prevent similar incidents.
As she noted, the Independent Market Operator, which reports to the Cyprus Transmission System Operator, is informed every half hour of the exact amount of electricity a photovoltaic or wind farm can contribute, and subsequently issues instructions to the Electricity Authority regarding the contribution of specific liquid fuel generation units.
Papadopoulou added that, in order for the TSO to know how much a solar farm can generate, the information is transmitted via the EAC’s optic fibre network from the solar farms to the EAC’s Distribution Control Centre, which in turn sends all the data to the TSO, whose role is to ensure the stability of the system and prevent any disruptions.
Furthermore, in a statement issued earlier today, the TSO announced that power supply had been restored to consumers affected by a technical fault in the generation system within the occupied areas.