Energy Transition on Sifnos: An Approach to Economic and Social Transition and Development

Abstract

This article aims to present the potential of energy transition in insular systems for social and economic transition and development, when planned and implemented appropriately, with the active involvement of local communities. To this end, the example of Sifnos Energy Community is examined and presented as a pilot case. It proves that energy transition, apart from its obvious energy conservation and climate necessity, can provide a strong contribution to the development of remote areas and the remedying of crucial issues, especially in insular communities, such as unemployment, low standards of living, isolation and energy supply security. Energy transition on Sifnos has been undertaken by the Sifnos Energy Community (SEC), with the target to achieve 100% energy independency through effective and rational projects. The major project is a centralized hybrid power plant consisting of a wind park and a pumped hydro storage system. It was designed to fully cover the current electricity demand and the anticipated forthcoming load due to the overall transition to e-mobility for the transportation sector on the island. Through the exploitation of the excess electricity production with the production of potable water and hydrogen, energy transition can facilitate the development of new professional activities on the island and reduce the local economy’s dependence on tourism. Additionally, a daily link to the neighboring larger Cyclades islands can be established with a hydrogen powered-passenger vessel, ensuring the secure and cheap overseas transportation connection of Sifnos throughout the whole year. The overall energy transition process is executed with the active involvement of the Sifnos citizens, ensuring wide public acceptance and the minimization of the projects’ impacts on the natural and human environment. At the same time, the anticipated benefits for the insular communities are maximized, highlighting the energy transition process on Sifnos as a new sustainable development pattern. For all this effort and the already achieved results, Sifnos has been declared as one of the six pilot islands of the European Community’s initiative “Clean Energy for EU Islands”.

The Interconnection of the Electric Grid in the Island of Crete, Greece, and its Contribution to the Clean Energy Transition

“…They also estimated that the size of the PHES system on the island is 5,996 MW. The energy transition in Sifnos Island, Greece has been investigated [1]. The authors stated that the energy transition in Sifnos has been undertaken by the Sifnos energy community, aiming to achieve 100% energy independence on the island.…”

“…The most popular and broadly used electricity storage system so far is the pumped hydro storage transforming electric energy into dynamic energy. It has many advantages compared with other electricity storage technologies [1], [8], [9]. Electricity storage as chemical energy based on large-scale lithium-ion electric batteries is also reliable and cost-efficient due to recent advances in battery's technologies [15], [26], [33].…”

“…Its electric grid was autonomous so far complicating its clean energy transition, although the island has rich solar and wind energy resources. Existing studies indicated that the development of solar photovoltaic (solar-PV) and wind power installations combined with the construction of pumped hydro-electricity storage (PHES) plants can minimize or totally eliminate its carbon footprint due to electricity generation [1], [2]. Several small-size islands have already achieved their clean energy transition [3]- [5].…”

Combined Operation of Wind-Pumped Hydro Storage Plant with a Concentrating Solar Power Plant for Insular Systems: A Case Study for the Island of Rhodes

“…Scenaria of Wind/PHS with or without interconnection to the mainland in the island of Lesbos demonstrated an LCoE as low to 140 EUR /MWh [44]. For the island of Crete, 14 wind generation sites with pumped hydro storage (PHS) storage were reported at 120 EUR /MWh [45,46], while for 100% energy independency of the island of Sifnos was reported based on wind, PV and PHS with 150 EUR /MWh with a payback of 15 years [47,48].…”

“…The operation algorithm is analyzed below separately for the two distinct parts of the overall examined system, beginning with the wind park-pumped hydro storage system [10,48].…”