With the EU’s clean energy, low-carbon goals and the specific needs of isolated communities in mind, the EU-funded TILOS project set out to make the Greek island of Tilos the first in the Mediterranean to be powered solely by renewable energy. This required more robust technology to store and distribute the power effectively over time and distance. Tilos has a winter population of 400 but up to 3,000 people visit in the summer, putting an impossible strain on its dilapidated power supply which came from an underwater cable that runs from Kos to the island of Nisiros and on to Tilos. This erratic means of power has forced many businesses to rely on diesel generators.
The key part of the project was to develop
battery technology and its management system to store excess energy produced, so that the island could become energy self-sufficient and sell excess power to its neighbours. Wind turbines and solar panels were installed on Tilos island outside of the project’s budget. For more information see the IDTechEx report on
Distributed Generation: Minigrid Microgrid Zero Emission 2018-2038.
While the main goal was to develop local, small-scale
battery storage and microgrid facilities for private, business and public needs, the project had in mind the bigger picture of renewable energy, including societal, technical, commercial and domestic aspects, too.
With the focus on small-island needs, the project targeted real problems, such as how to secure year-round energy supplies from wind and solar renewable sources, and how to develop advanced electricity storage and distribution facilities for local and central needs.
The
battery system being tested must support both standalone and grid-connected operations, while proving its interoperability with other microgrid components. These include demand-side energy management and smart metering tools, as well as distributed residential heat-storage and hot-water systems.
The project is building an extended microgrid simulator to analyse
battery technologies and microgrid configurations: standalone, grid-connected and power market-dependent systems. Other islands are watching TILOS closely, the aim being to create an ‘island platform’ to help transfer the technologies and inspire wider use.
“The innovation of this program and its funding lies in the batteries — the energy storage — that’s what’s innovative,” project manager Spyros Aliferis said.
“The energy produced by the wind turbines and the photovoltaics will be stored in batteries, so that this energy can be used for the grid when there is demand.”
Top image: Wikipedia
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