Heat, humidity, demand cause power cuts in Nicosia

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A combination of high temperatures, a high level of humidity and an increase in demand for electricity in Cyprus has been knocking large areas of the capital offline in the past couple of days.

Two faults in underground powerlines on Monday and Tuesday knocked large areas of eastern and western Nicosia offline for several hours at a time.

On Monday, an underground cable in Akropolis, Nicosia had overheated as a direct result of high temperatures, humidity and a surge in demand. The fault had pushed Akropolis and Agioi Omologites offline for four hours, from 6am to 10 am, as confirmed by the Electricity Authority Cyprus.

The authority’s acting spokesperson Demetris Nathanael told the Financial Mirror that high levels of humidity and a second surge in demand had caused another underground cable in Agios Dhometios in western Nicosia to overheat on Tuesday.

The fault had caused a power cut in the whole of Agios Dhometios and part of Agioi Omologites for about two hours, from just before 3pm to around 4.30pm.

“Both cables, have a capacity of 11,000 Kw, and had overheated due to weather conditions and high demand,” said Nathanael.

According to the Cyprus Transmission System Operator’s (TSO) webpage, at the time of the incident (3pm) on Tuesday, electricity demand was equal to production.

Some 1,040 Mw were being produced, while the demand was exactly equal to production.

The power supply and equipment at some businesses were affected, but owners sought to make repairs at their own cost.

Asked, the EAC’s Nathanael said they had received but one complaint of damages caused to businesses’ circuits, adding that if proven by an authorised electrician that damages were brought on by the fault in EAC’s circuit and subsequent surge, they will be compensated.