How to decarbonise the energy systems of islands?
More than 16 million people live on the 2400 islands in the European Union. Disconnected from the continental European power grid, they face common challenges that can be tackled specifically depending on each island specificity.
What is the current situation?
The energy sector of the geographical islands is extremely polluting due to a high dependency on imported fossil fuels combined with ageing and inefficient power plants. This leads to energy costs up to ten times the ones on mainland.
How to reach this decarbonation?
Islands are places often naturally rich with wind, sun and biomass, which make renewable energy sources (RES) key assets for the decarbonation of these energy systems. However, to handle the increased variability of these RES compared to conventional power plants, it is necessary to implement technologies to make the grid resilient and give it the tools to ensure security of supply at affordable costs with a large share of RES as origin of the electricity.
In MAESHA, partners will deploy grid flexibility, storage and other energy management solutions to demonstrate that high penetration of RES is possible on islands with the adapted network and grid services.
