In a numerous small and medium size islands of the Aegean Archipelagos, in the eastern-part of the Greek mainland, current patterns of energy and water supply largely restrict or almost eliminate contribution of RES, despite the medium-high quality of RES potential met across the entire area. The result of this strategy is the implementation of short-sighted solutions, based almost exclusively on enormous amounts of fuel imports for covering energy needs (mainly electricity) and the operation of unorthodox water supply networks so as to cover existing water deficits that may even reach 100% of the local water demand for certain dry island regions. To this end, many of the medium and small size distant islands of the Aegean Archipelagos are faced with extreme costs of energy and water supply as well as seasonal stresses (mainly during the summer period) that challenge the already injured local tourist industry.

To face the situation encountered, adaptation to sustainable schemes of RES-based development could reboot the local economy and foster new economic activities, including also new types of tourist patterns that could benefit from the promotion of green-island characteristics. The concept of the proposed project is based on the development of an integrated planning tool for the long-term satisfaction of total energy and water needs in small and medium size non-interconnected island regions of the Aegean Archipelagos, with the use of optimum RES-based hybrid systems. In this regard, relevance of the project scope with topic needs is reflected in the most straightforward way, with optimum use of RES for the satisfaction of energy and water needs both offering new development opportunities and relieving the State budget from the current cost of fuel imports and water transport.

Associated Work Plan

The specific project comprises of eight WPs:

WP1: Determination of the current status and future trends concerning energy & water demand of the small & medium size non-interconnected Aegean islands
WP2: Comprehensive study of the local RES potential and energy-based environmental impacts
WP3: State-of-the-art RES-based hybrid solutions for the satisfaction of energy & water demand in the small & medium size non-interconnected Aegean islands
WP4: Development of an integrated planning tool for the satisfaction of energy and water needs in island regions using RES-based hybrid configurations
WP5: Upgrade of a small scale pilot station for the experimental simulation of RES-based hybrid and desalination systems
WP6: Application of the integrated planning tool to representative island case studies
WP7: Synthesis and configuration of an integrated plan for the satisfaction of energy and water demand in small and medium size Aegean island regions
WP8: Project management and dissemination