With arguably the most sunlight hours per year in the EU, Cyprus is well placed to take advantage of solar energy. For this reason, the Cyprus Consumers Association (CCA) has kicked off a collective purchase campaign dedicated to solar PV panels under the CLEAR-X project.
The project will offer several brands of solar panel for single-family homes, including PV installation in the price. Under the CLEAR-X project, independent lab testing was carried out on several solar panels to compare brands and models, the results of which are available here (in Greek).
This is CCA’s second campaign under the CLEAR-X project, which also saw them run a campaign on focused on air conditioners. “Between longer, hotter summers, and the increasing cost of energy, consumer interest in both air conditioners and PV panels is very high,” commented Stamatis Rossides of CCA. The project also created a dedicated calculator to help consumers understand the cost benefits to them of installing PV panels.
Government grants for solar panels have also increased uptake of the technology in Cyprus. The government wants to increase its capacity for flexibility in the energy grid, so is also making funds available for the purchase of batteries to energy storage. CCA is happy with the expanded grant, which includes even more funding for vulnerable consumers, but cautions that there is still work to do.
“The energy grid is struggling with all the new installations, and needs more funding,” commented Mr Rossides. “Meanwhile, the application process for adding new connections to the grid needs speeding up – it shouldn’t take 3-5 months to process an application.”
Consumers in Cyprus can already sign up for the campaign, and can learn more about the project here.