In 2025, Cyprus faced a sharp increase in the volume of forced curtailment of renewable energy generation. According to CyprusGrid, 145,000 MWh of solar generation was curtailed in the first five months of the year, which amounted to 58% of the estimated production volume (251,000 MWh). For comparison, in 2024 this figure reached 29%, in 2023 – 13.4%, and in 2022 – only 3.3%.

Growing curtailments in distributed generation

While curtailment previously affected mainly large solar power plants, in 2025 the problem spread to small and micro-SPPs. In 2024, the small rooftop generation cap was 1,500 MWh per annum, while in January-May 2025 this figure reached 19,850 MWh, representing an increase of more than 1,200% year-on-year.

Power mix and causes of imbalance

The main reason for the current situation is the lack of flexibility of the Cyprus power system, including the lack of significant energy storage capacity and limited demand management capabilities. At the same time, the share of renewable energy sources in the energy balance continues to grow:

• Installed capacity at the end of 2024:
• Solar power plants: 797 MW
• Wind power plants: 155 MW
• Bioenergy: 12.4 MW
• Fossil fuel thermal power plants: 1,478 MW

In 2024, 159 MW of new solar capacity was commissioned, of which 100 MW were small solar power plants for self-consumption.

Regulatory issues and possible measures

The current net metering system, in which excess generation is compensated at retail tariffs, is planned to be replaced by net billing with payment at wholesale prices. However, this is not enough to solve the problem. The key areas of adaptation of the energy system should be:

• Development of energy storage systems (BESS).
• Implementation of demand response mechanisms – modernization of the network infrastructure.

Without taking these measures, further growth of the share of renewable energy sources in the energy balance of Cyprus will be accompanied by an increase in the volume of forced generation restrictions, reducing the economic efficiency of the industry.