Join us for the next MODENERLANDS webinar!
👨🏫 Presenter: Heracles Polatidis
🎓 Affiliation: Upsalla University, Dept. of Earth Sciences
📊 Title : Renewable Energy for Self-Sustainable Islands: the REACT Horizon2020 project
📅 Date: 25 April 2025, 13:00 CET
🔗 https://zoom.us/j/93774917674?pwd=CAaUGoZqV6PwyaCxCkrAg6xG6B2nmY.1
Short Abstract:
Geographical islands are highly dependent on the mainland energy market. This affects the island’s energy security & increases energy costs that could be up to 400% higher than on the mainland. If islands are not grid-connected they are highly dependent on fossil fuels. If islands have a grid connection they are dependent on imported energy. Islands also have highly variable seasonal load profiles due to tourism. To predict, control & manage variable load profiles is key. If coupled with energy storage technology and a greater share of renewable energy then islands could enjoy greener, stable, and more resilient electrical grids.
To this end a number of European research projects have been developed to assist island energy planners in decarbonizing and enhancing their energy systems. One of these projects is the REACT project, a 4-year research project funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 Programme. Its objective is to achieve island energy independence through renewable energy generation and storage, a demand response platform, and promoting user engagement in a local energy community context. One of the main REACT project’s scientific contribution was the development of an energy planning decarbonisation platform (REACT-DECARB) employing renewable energy sources coupled with storage for islands. The platform has been implemented in eight geographic islands in seven countries within the EU. Twenty-one technologically feasible energy scenarios, applicable to the specific conditions of each island, were specified. The main aim of this application was to verify the noted steps of the platform as well as to test its flexibility across geographically, socially and dimensionally disparate islands with various scenario generation methods.
The platform employs energy and economic modules, life-cycle assessment and multi-criteria decision analysis to facilitate an integrated evaluation of scenarios and enables decision makers to fully grasp the technical, environmental, economic and social aspects of energy systems’ decarbonisation. Results indicate that island electrical autonomy should be considered with caution and can be a valid option only if cost criteria are not prioritised. Further, it was determined that seeking autonomy in countries with low carbon costs for electricity production may be not be environmentally beneficial. A number of inter-island comparisons have been made and have shown that the REACT-DECARB platform can assist planners and decision-makers to identify the best available scenarios, define the sensitivity issues with respect to the criteria weights and, together with local communities, come to a common ground in order to establish a roadmap for the transition towards a decarbonised energy future for islands.
