The Ministry of Agriculture has firmly stated that photovoltaic systems should not be installed in fertile, arable, and irrigated reclamation areas.
Furthermore, the Ministry proposes that new Renewable Energy projects should be located in low-fertility barren land, areas along highways, abandoned quarries, and sites with uncontrolled waste disposal that have already been restored.
The conservation of fertile agricultural land and reclamation areas was a focal point in yesterday’s parliamentary Agriculture Committee session.
Andreas Grigoriou, the Director-General of the Ministry of Agriculture, addressed the installation of agrivoltaic parks, mentioning that in 2022, the Ministry devised a plan allowing the cultivation of land simultaneously with the installation of photovoltaic systems.
This initiative aims to provide additional income to farmers and increase the contribution of Renewable Energy sources to overall energy production. It is noteworthy that the Department of Agriculture has expressed positive opinions on 24 applications so far.
Criteria have been established to define the characteristics of these systems, such as having a certain altitude to enable parallel cultivation of the land.
According to Mr. Grigoriou, the Ministry’s position is that the installation of these systems ensures that farmers can cultivate and utilize the land for dual purposes.
The only concern at the Department of Agriculture regarding agrivoltaics is that it has not been implemented in Cyprus.
To address this, an investigation is currently underway to determine the effectiveness of dual land use. Until the investigation is completed, the Ministry of Agriculture has essentially suspended the installation of new agrivoltaic systems.
Yiannis Gabriel, the President of the Agriculture Committee, stated that the new directive for the installation of agrivoltaic systems, which was supposed to be published since November, has not been released.
He added that the Committee has been informed that the directive for installing agrivoltaic systems on fertile agricultural land will be issued by the end of January. He emphasized that the goal is to protect both the land and the primary sector.
