Energy efficiency and sustainable transport in Cyprus

© kichigin19 / Fotolia

The study has been conducted within the framework of the project “Technical assistance for energy efficiency and sustainable transport in Cyprus” implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH with financing from the European Commission Structural Reform Support Services.

Context

The Cypriot Authorities have embarked on a major reform of the energy sector, for which the Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism (MECIT) is the coordinating party. This reform includes the achievement of the national targets in the transport sector, which is responsible for more than half of the final energy demand in Cyprus and depends heavily on mineral oil imports. In parallel, several EU directives promote the increase of the share of alternative fuels:

• the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) requires a share of 10% of renewable energy sources (RES) in the final road energy consumption by 2020
• the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) requires fuel suppliers to reduce specific GHG emissions by 6% by 2020 based on a life cycle analysis.

Results

In this project, ifeu analyses the potential of different measures, i.e. the use of biofuels, natural gas or electro-mobility for the road and maritime sectors, to increase the share of renewable energy sources in Cyprus to support the country in the design of a national strategy and in reducing its GHG emissions. The technological feasibility, the environmental impacts and the economic viability of these measures are assessed for 2020 and up to 2050 within two scenarios (B and C) and compared to a reference scenario (or business-as-usual).

Only an ambitious strategy can achieve the environmental goals. It relies mainly on biofuels (incl. B100 for captive fleets) in the short term and an introduction of e-mobility coupled with the use of CNG for the road sector in the long term (natural gas should be locally exploited from 2020 on). For the maritime sector, the main alternative is the supply of LNG. The economic costs of this technological shift will primarily be borne by end consumers. This calls for the introduction of public incentives to help create a positive dynamic and a self-sustaining low carbon transportation system.