The Dekelia Power Station is very important for the state and must remain in operation, stated today the Minister of Energy, Trade and Industry Giorgos Papanastasiou, noting at the same time that this particular station burns very polluting fuel and must, together with the EAC, be supported by the state and be upgraded.
The Minister also stated that it is very difficult to review the government's decision to continue subsidizing electricity and fuel and noted that it would discourage people from going to the occupied territories to fill their cars with cheaper fuel.
In statements on the sidelines of his visit to the EAC Station in Dekelia, the Minister stated that his choice to visit this particular station was because it is "the station in which there are the most question marks". Today, he said, "the goal is to talk to the staff, listen to the questions and answer as many as we can," while those we can't will come back with answers.
He added that "the Dekelia station burns fuel that is very polluting. It mainly works with fuel oil and is essentially the station where decisions must be made by the EAC with the support of the state in order to upgrade it so that it can continue its production, which we absolutely need in the place."
We need, he continued, the production "not only as electrical power, but also the geographical area in which it is produced is very important, so as to keep the system in balance. The Dekelia Station is very important for the state and must remain in operation."
Answering a question regarding the fines for pollutants paid by the taxpayers of the Republic, Mr. Papanastasiou said that "in many energy matters we have fallen behind". "We always come in hindsight to say that we were late for something," he said and added that "we cannot control the past and the present now that we are living it. What we can control now is the future and that's what we will do," he said.
He continued, "through our plans, and as I understand they are parallel plans with the state, the utilization of the specific space should be promoted and it should continue to produce the electricity we need".
When asked how quickly these changes can be made, the Minister replied "it is a five-year plan plus maybe the upgrade of the station".
Asked to state whether the government can revise the decision on the electricity subsidy due to the summer, Mr. Papanastasiou expressed the belief that "it is difficult to revise such a decision. It is after a very careful study and a very difficult decision that the Council of Ministers took the decision the day before yesterday" he said and noted that "it is a matter of maintaining a balance between social benefits, but also having a seriousness towards our finances".
Regarding the review of the fuel decision, he said "I maintain that there was no justification for the subsidy to continue" because as he explained "petroleum prices when we decided on the subsidy are much lower now as a base, that is the original price of fuel, so any subsidy could not continue today."
Asked about the queues of cars being seen at petrol stations to fill their car tanks ahead of the fuel price hike, the Minister said "I understand that" and advised the consumer "the 8 cents if we put in today won't save us fuel in our car."
Regarding the queues of cars that are observed at the roadblocks in order for their owners to fill up with fuel from the occupied areas, Mr. Papanastasiou said that "I would discourage it".
Commenting by a journalist that the government should give incentives to people not to go to the occupied territories for fuel, the Energy Minister said "I remain discouraged and you know what I mean".
For her part, Miss Panagiotou Theodosiou, President of the Board of Directors of EAC welcomed the Minister of Energy to the Dekelia station and noted that "for several years there was uncertainty about the future of this station. But today we express our satisfaction as EAC, because there is confirmation that the station must remain for reasons of adequacy, stability and also for geopolitics".
He added that "what remains now is the upgrading of the station and that is where we must focus". "There is the development program of the EAC and within it there is a special program for Dekelia" said Mrs. Panagiotou and noted that "the studies have already been done. We are now looking at the various scenarios resulting from the study and when we are ready we will present them to the Minister and the Ministry, so that we can make the decisions."
When asked whether the EAC expects financial support from the government, Mrs. Theodosiou replied that "we are not at this stage, we are examining the scenarios".
Asked to state whether there are specific problems at the station, she replied that "problems exist as in all stations. It's a station where some of the units are quite old but our people are taking care of the maintenance until the upgrade is done."
Source: KYPE