Tilos is a majestic, tiny island, located on the south-eastern part of the Aegean Sea, sharing the distance between the islands of Kos and Rhodes. Although the island's permanent population does not exceed 500 people, tourists arriving during the summer period may even reach an additional of 2,000. But even these numbers do not add up to compare with the dominant island species, meaning stray cats and the literally tens of thousands of wild goats spread across the whole island area. This is only one indication of the ecological culture embraced by the local habitants of Tilos, actively supporting the notion of clean energy and sustainable development. These are the grounds where the first, integrated smart energy microgrid of the Mediterranean Sea is about to start its operation under the Horizon 2020 project of TILOS (https://www.tiloshorizon.eu/), standing as the acronym for "Technology Innovation for the Local Scale, Optimum Integration of Battery Energy Storage".
The smart island microgrid of Tilos employs a core, MW-scale, battery-based Hybrid Power Station (HPS) -the first of its kind in Greece and among the first in Europe- that comprises an 800kW wind turbine, 160kWp of installed PV capacity and a novel, NaNiCl2 battery energy storage system of 2.88MWh/800kW. The HPS of Tilos combines with a Demand Side Management (DSM) network of approximately 150 smart meters and DSM panels distributed across the residential sector and centralized water pumping systems of the island, altogether coordinated under the governance of an advanced Microgrid Energy Management System incorporating novel forecasting aspects and DSM strategies.
Once fully operational, the integrated TILOS solution is expected to achieve annual RES shares in the order of 70-75% for the island of Tilos, minimizing the supply of oil-based electricity through the existing subsea cable that comes from the thermal power station of Kos. Instead, it is expected that Tilos will also provide peak shaving services for the broader Kos system by exporting guaranteed amounts of energy during times that electricity generation is most wanted. In addition, in an effort to maximize RES penetration, green electromobility elements have also been recently introduced in the smart island microgrid of Tilos, allowing for the expansion of clean energy to the local transportation sector as well.
SITE VISIT – INVITATION
The research team of TILOS Project Coordinator, belonging in the Soft Energy Applications and Environmental Protection Lab (SEALAB) of the University of West Attica (former TEI of Piraeus), has the pleasure to invite REM2018 (http://applied-energy.org/rem2018) participants in Tilos island for a site visit to the HPS and to the rest of smart microgrid components under development.
SEALAB is an academic lab with very long experience in educational and research activities in the field of energy technologies -mainly in Renewable Energy Sources and Hybrid Energy Systems- and clean energy applications contributing to sustainable development. SEALAB relevant ongoing research activities are focusing in:
ü Technical and economic evaluation of energy systems
ü Novel Strategies for Increasing RES Integration
ü Policy Development & Economics of Energy Storage
ü Implementation of the Green Island Concept
ü Optimisation of the water and energy resources management
The site visit will take place after the completion of REM2018 Conference according to the following plan.
- Departure from Rhodes island on Monday, 1st of October, at 16:00, and arrival to Tilos at 18:10 of the same day.
- Departure from Tilos island on Tuesday, 2nd of October, at 14:25, and arrival to Rhodes at 16:30 of the same day.
- The registration fee of €150 shall cover all associated costs, including travel costs to and from Tilos island, accommodation and transportation costs on Tilos, and also a traditional dinner on Monday evening.
It is noted that due to capacity limitations, there will be a maximum number of fifty (50) site visit participants which will be confirmed upon payment of the respective registration fee until the 21st of September. Therefore, the applications will be accepted on a priority basis up to the completion of the maximum number of participants
Click here for registration:
https://goo.gl/forms/d9NLhaJqkm0mrTcw2
For details for the REM 2018 conference click here.
