EU geographical islands as leaders of green energy transition

TL;DR

European islands are leading the clean energy transition by testing renewable energy solutions and community-based approaches that could be scaled up on the mainland.

Contribution

The paper identifies how islands' unique characteristics make them ideal for pioneering and replicating green energy solutions across the EU.

Findings

Islands are ideal for testing renewable energy and smart grid technologies due to their unique challenges and advantages.

Community involvement and tailored energy planning are crucial for successful decarbonization on islands.

Innovative solutions tested on islands can be replicated on the mainland to support EU decarbonization goals.

Abstract

This paper reviews how European islands are taking the lead in the European Union (EU) Clean Energy Transition by reviewing the lessons learned in the EU Bridge initiative and in a number of EU co-funded projects such as NESOI, RE-EMPOWERED, REACT, IANOS, LOCALRES, MASTERPIECE, SINNOGENES, SMHYLES, STEPWISE, and ISLET.

Islands encounter significant difficulties in the management of their energy systems, including strong seasonal variations in energy demand, high operational costs and GHG emissions for energy production, weak energy grids, lack of technical skills, and difficult access to finance. However, they also have positive features that make them ideal laboratories for energy transition, including high potential for renewables, small-scale and strong community structures, and high energy prices, which make most solutions cost-effective.

Each of the projects contributing to the paper has been supporting the islands’ energy transition, leveraging different enabling technologies, such as renewable energy production systems, smart grids, advanced energy storage systems, and local energy community schemes. The results from these projects underline the need for tailored energy planning, considering geographical and socio-economic particularities, the need to engage the local population in the definition of the most suitable decarbonization pathways for the island, and a number of lessons learned on the technologies that have the highest potential for being tested on islands and then being replicated on the mainland.

Therefore, this study concludes that renewable energy solutions coupled with different technologies (storage, mobility, district heating/cooling, etc.) and leveraging powerful community integration confirm that European islands can drive the decarbonization strategy of the EU.

This paper draws lessons learnt from a set of various EU-funded projects, underlining how European islands are now playing a leading role in the transition to clean energy. These islands face unique challenges with regards to managing their energy systems, including fluctuating energy demand due to tourism, high energy production costs and related emissions, weak electricity grids, limited technical expertise and difficult access to finance. However, the advantages that they have-abundant renewable energy potential, tight-knit communities and high energy prices make them ideal playgrounds for the testing of innovative energy solutions.

The projects presented in the study have supported the adoption on islands of renewable energy systems, smart grids, advanced energy storage, and community-based energy enterprises. Key recommendations stress the need to tailor energy plans according to each island's geographical and social particularity and to actively involve residents in shaping decarbonization strategies.

The findings suggest that, together with the technologies of energy storage, electric mobility, and district heating or cooling, renewable energy can turn islands into powerful drivers of EU decarbonization. Islands are pioneering solutions that work for their specific needs but at the same time test ideas that might be scaled up and applied across the mainland.

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