‘Problem of power cuts in TRNC solved’: Kib-Tek manager

The problem of power cuts that hit north Cyprus in recent days has been “solved”, said the TRNC’s electricity authority Kib-Tek.

The TRNC had experienced increased frequency in power cuts in recent days and weeks. 

On Sunday Kib-Tek general manager Dalman Aydin said the problem causing them has “now been fixed”.

“Both Kib-Tek and [the private company which operates the Kalecik power station in Mehmetçik] Aksa made new energy investments, but when we look at it, the reason for these power cuts is not related to investment,” he said.

“Some problems will be resolved by addressing the machines which have not been touched or maintained for years,” He added.

With this in mind, he said that a 17.5-kilowatt diesel generator, which “had been broken for four years”, will be put back into use next week.

In addition, he said electricity consumption across the north in July was 50 per cent higher than during the same month last year, and that this “exceeded expectations”.

He also said that this created problems in the supply of fuel oil to the TRNC’s power stations.

“We had to go beyond the supply programme. The fuel at the bottom of the tanks was used. This fuel was dirty fuel,” he said, with the result of that being thick black smoke billowing out of the top of the chimney at the Teknecik power station near Kyrenia in recent days.

His statements came after Kib-Tek employees’ trade union El-Sen chairman Ahmet Tugcu had said both Teknecik and Kalecik were only operating at half their stated capacity.

Tugcu had said that as of 6pm on Saturday, Teknecik, with its total capacity of 360 megawatts, was only producing 147, and that Kalecik, with its total capacity of 175 megawatts, was only producing 90. On top of this, he said a total of 30 megawatts of power were being imported from south Cyprus.