Cyprus Curtails 65% Of Solar Generation in January–May 2026

Cyprus curtailed about 162 GWh of solar energy in the first five months of 2026, equivalent to more than 65% of the country's potential solar power generation during the period.

CyprusGrid, an energy analytics platform focused on Cyprus' electricity sector, told pv magazine that the affected plants are predominantly photovoltaic systems, alongside 12.5 MW of biogas capacity and 24 MW of wind power, which are also connected to the distribution network.

According to CyprusGrid, curtailment has risen sharply from around 12% in 2022 to 47% in 2025.

Curtailment patterns over the past five years have remained broadly consistent, with volumes typically surging in spring and autumn when electricity demand is lower, and easing during other months. However, between June and August 2025, when demand is usually higher, curtailed volumes more than quadrupled compared with the same period in 2024. If this trend continues into 2026, Cyprus could end the year with record curtailments exceeding 60%.

Andreas Procopiou, founder of CyprusGrid, said that a key driver behind Cyprus' record curtailments is the continued operation of must-run conventional units, which occupy a significant share of grid capacity that could otherwise be used by renewables. In addition, wholesale electricity prices have remained depressed, largely due to the same renewable oversupply that is driving curtailment in the first place.

Cyprus does not compensate investors for curtailed generation. "As a result, there is a serious revenue squeeze that is testing the viability of projects built on very different market assumptions," Procopiou said. "PV owners are exploring every option available to them to deal with this situation. Some are attempting to renegotiate PPAs, but with market liquidity at historic lows, counterparties have little incentive to offer improved terms. The more structural solution-adding battery storage to existing PV plants to shift curtailed energy into hours when the grid can actually absorb it-is being held back by an administrative bottleneck that should not exist."

In the years prior to 2025, curtailment in Cyprus mainly affected large-scale solar plants monitored through the transmission system operator's SCADA systems. In cases of significant imbalances between generation and demand, system operators could deploy alternative control methods such as ripple control, although this was rare.

Starting in 2025, however, Cyprus began curtailing large volumes of solar generation from residential PV systems. Last year, curtailed residential and small-scale PV generation reached 30,180 MWh, up from just 1,565 MWh the year before, according to CyprusGrid.

Between January and May 2026, Procopiou said the grid curtailed a record 46,687 MWh of residential and small-scale solar generation.

The rise in residential curtailment comes as Cyprus' solar PV market is increasingly driven by the residential segment. Amid severe curtailment levels, large-scale PV development has slowed, while the market is now dominated by self-consumption systems and prosumer installations.

"Residential PV still makes financial sense in Cyprus through self-consumption, though ripple control is a real headwind today, cutting off production entirely during curtailment events. Despite an expected slowdown, the fundamentals remain intact as behind-the-meter storage becomes the norm," concluded Procopiou.