With occasional zero export, you can use the power from your solar panels on curtailment days too.

30 October 2026

With occasional zero export, your system stops sending power to the grid only when a command comes. To get it, you make a written application to EAC's Distribution System Operator (DSO). Homes and businesses apply the same way, whether or not they have a battery.

The command comes from the DSO or the Transmission System Operator Cyprus (TSOC) at hours of low demand and high renewable output, when the grid cannot absorb any more power.

What happens on curtailment days

• Standard connection: during a curtailment the whole system is disconnected, battery included, and the home usually takes its power from the grid.¹
• Occasional zero export: only the export stops first, and at other hours the system exports as normal.²
• Permanent zero export: you never send power to the grid and cannot later change your type of connection. It is required at the grid's "congested points", and elsewhere you can ask for it yourself.³

With occasional zero export, on curtailment days you can use the solar power you produce, and whatever is left over at midday can be stored in your battery instead of being lost.

A home battery never sends power to the grid, whether there is a command or not.⁴

If your system can technically bring its export to zero, the law gives you the right for the power you use at home or at your business not to be curtailed, except only in emergencies.⁵

How to apply

• Application: you sign the application form (E-DD-002), and it records the details of the electrician who does the installation. You can apply whether you are on net billing or net metering.⁶
• Existing system: you can probably apply for a system that is already running, too. The form has an "Existing RES system" option, but it does not say whether this means occasional or permanent zero export.
• Equipment: you need an export limitation scheme, set to zero export. For systems up to 120 kW, the command passes through a second remote-control receiver, separate from the one for full cut-off. The DSO installs this second receiver.¹
• Above 120 kW: the command passes through SCADA, and production can be curtailed by more than zero export needs.
• Cost: according to the DSO, you pay all the costs. We found no published application fee.¹
• Time: we did not find how long approval takes.

When the whole system can be cut off

• Cut-off: the law allows it in emergencies, when there is no other option, and the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority (CERA) must then be told at once.⁵
• Compensation: according to the DSO's guides, you are not entitled to compensation when curtailment or interruption happens for operational reasons.^{4, 3}
• If the command is not kept to: when your system sends power to the grid while the command applies, the DSO can take measures, even stopping it.

How solar curtailment works →

What applies in congested areas →

Keep reading

References

1. EAC's DSO, Occasional zero export operation, 2025. EAC (PDF, in Greek)
2. EAC's DSO, Connection guide for active customers and self-consumers, 15 May 2026, section 4.6. EAC (PDF, in Greek)
3. EAC's DSO, Technical guide for RES systems up to 15 MWp, edition 2026.1, 15 May 2026, sections 6.3.3.3 to 6.3.3.5. EAC (PDF, in Greek)
4. EAC's DSO, Technical guide for connecting storage systems, edition 2026.3, 15 July 2026, section 2. EAC (PDF, in Greek)
5. Law 55(I)/2025, section 2, amending Article 38(2)(d) of Law 107(I)/2022. CyLaw (PDF, in Greek)
6. EAC's DSO, services form "Other services" (E-DD-002) and Annex A, special technical and other terms for self-consumption RES, term 19, 2026. EAC (in Greek)

Share

WhatsApp Facebook X LinkedIn

This guide is provided for information only and is not technical or legal advice. The rules come from the publications of EAC's DSO and the law, and may change. Switch is not responsible for decisions made in reliance on it.