Energy Minister Michael Damianos will travel to Thessaloniki on Friday, September 4, to take part in the 10th Southeast Europe Energy Forum, where he is expected to highlight Cyprus’ role in regional energy cooperation amid a series of developments affecting the island’s energy strategy.
Damianos will participate at 4pm in a ministerial panel titled “Security, affordability and competitiveness in a changing energy landscape”, alongside the energy ministers of Greece, Bulgaria and North Macedonia and the president of the energy committee of the Romanian parliament.
His intervention is expected to focus on Europe’s energy challenges, including the diversification of energy sources and routes, security of supply, energy costs and the competitiveness of the European economy.
Damianos is also expected to highlight Cyprus’ geographical position and energy potential and their importance for strengthening regional cooperation, particularly through the development of electricity interconnections and energy infrastructure in the southeastern Mediterranean.
He will also discuss the potential of renewable energy sources, energy storage and the use of domestic energy resources to create a safer, more resilient and more competitive energy system.
Following the forum, Damianos will visit the Energy Ministry’s pavilion at the 90th Thessaloniki International Fair before returning to Cyprus on Saturday morning.
The minister’s appearance comes amid numerous developments in Cyprus’ energy sector, including mounting pressure to expand energy storage as increasing solar generation has resulted in significant curtailment of renewable electricity.
In August, Damianos said claims that photovoltaic and solar systems were loss-making were misleading and only served to discourage investment in clean energy.
He was responding to a formal question from Akel MP Christos Christofides about the policy of curtailing solar generation when electricity supply exceeds demand.
Around 300 gigawatt-hours of solar energy was wasted in 2025 because of grid constraints and insufficient battery storage, representing almost half of distributed renewable generation.
The trend continued into 2026, with Cyprus curtailing 162 gigawatt-hours during the first five months of the year.
Damianos explained that curtailments were carried out by the Transmission System Operator and Distribution System Operator to maintain grid stability when renewable production exceeded demand or the technical limits of the electricity network.
The measures were not intended to discriminate against any category of producers or consumers, he stressed.
Storage has meanwhile emerged as a key part of the government’s response to the problem.
Damianos said in July that Cyprus was expected to have several hundred megawatts of energy storage capacity installed by the end of 2027, allowing more renewable electricity, particularly solar power, to be integrated into the grid while strengthening the resilience of the electricity system.
The government was also examining whether to invoke Article 34 of the Electricity Market Regulation Law following a request from the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority, which would permit the rapid installation of conventional electricity generation units if necessary.
Damianos stressed that the issue was being assessed jointly by the Energy Ministry and Cera, while the Cyprus Transmission System Operator had indicated that there should be no electricity adequacy problems during the summer.
The government is also preparing for what Damianos has described as a decisive two-year period for Cyprus’ energy strategy, as the country moves from gas discoveries towards production.
Speaking at the World Congress of Overseas Cypriots in Nicosia on July 29, he said Cyprus had reached “a pivotal point” in its energy journey, with developments in the eastern Mediterranean creating both significant challenges and new opportunities.
“In an environment of heightened geopolitical uncertainty, energy has emerged as a key factor for economic development, regional cooperation and strategic security,” Damianos said.
He said Cyprus was pursuing a “consistent and multidimensional” energy policy aimed at reducing energy costs, strengthening security of supply and making the best use of domestic resources.
Damianos also highlighted the growing importance of the 3+1 energy partnership between Cyprus, Greece, Israel and the United States, describing it as an increasingly important platform for political and technical cooperation.
He said the partnership was expanding beyond hydrocarbons to include renewable energy, electricity interconnections, new technologies and energy innovation.
Following a ministerial meeting of the four partners in Houston, the countries agreed to develop a cooperation roadmap that was expected to be approved later in 2026.
Damianos also welcomed the launch of the Eastern Mediterranean Energy Centre at Rice University’s Baker Institute, saying it would provide a hub for cooperation between governments, academia and the energy industry.
US involvement has also featured prominently in Cyprus’ energy strategy.
In July, Damianos said he was “delighted” that US President Donald Trump had taken an interest in energy production in the region around Cyprus.
“I believe that President Trump’s involvement in this is vital, and I think the mark is there already, and we are delighted that we’re able to work with this administration,” he told US news website Breitbart.
“To be honest, if President Trump wasn’t there with respect to what we’re trying to do, things could have been different,” he added.
“As such, we’re delighted that President Trump is personally looking into this,” Damianos said.
The minister said the Cypriot government considered “the US involvement in the area as fundamental for the area’s energy security”.
He also said he had travelled to the US in June for meetings “because Cyprus is and wants to be a reliable partner for the US”.
Another major development came in August with the entry of French investment group Meridiam as majority shareholder in the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI), the planned electricity link between Cyprus, Greece and the wider region.
Damianos welcomed Meridiam’s participation, saying it gave the project “tremendous new momentum” and demonstrated the shared political commitment of Cyprus and Greece to delivering the interconnection.
“The participation of a major international French group with the necessary expertise clearly gives tremendous new momentum to efforts to implement the project, while also demonstrating the shared political will of Nicosia and Athens to advance the electricity interconnection,” Damianos said.
He said Meridiam’s participation fulfilled a joint decision taken by President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the third Cyprus-Greece Intergovernmental Summit in Athens on November 12, 2025, to secure a strong strategic investor for the project.
Damianos also said Christodoulides had been kept continuously informed by Mitsotakis throughout the discussions that led to the agreement.
Taken together, the developments underline the multiple strands of Cyprus’ energy strategy, from reducing electricity costs and increasing renewable generation and storage to developing electricity interconnections, exploiting domestic gas resources and strengthening energy partnerships with neighbouring countries and major international partners.
