EVALUATION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES (SOLAR, WIND, AND BIOGAS) ESTABLISHED IN CYPRUS IN THE FRAMEWORK OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Cyprus is an island whose energy production is almost completely dependent on imported hydrocarbon fuels. Its electricity production sector is more than 80% depended on oil products while the remaining 20 % are covered by imports of coal (5%) and by renewable energy sources (15%). However, renewable energy sources and more specific solar, wind, and biogas are not always without any negative impacts to the environment and the society. Environmental impact assessment is necessary to be done before a RES established in order to estimate, control and minimized any impact to the environment before the construction of those parks. There is absence of data regarding the impact of the renewable energy sources project that had been established and operated since now although there are several data before the installation. This paper focuses on the evaluation of three RES projects that had been established and operated the last years, covering the full range of exploited renewable energy sources in Cyprus. Thirty-two parameters in the holistic approach of the Sustainable Development framework had been used; and using the multi-criteria analyses method TOPSIS those parks were evaluated. The final results indicated that, the photovoltaic park is more efficient in the holistic approach of Sustainable Development than wind park and the biogas unit and is consider to be more acceptable from the citizens.