20/02/2018

European Commission offers funding for smart energy projects to decarbonise islands

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The European Commission is offering over 130 million euros in funding for innovative energy projects, earmarking part of the money for decarbonising island energy systems.

A total of 19 million euros will go to projects as part of the 2018-2020 Horizon Work Programme. There is an estimated 7-10 million euros for each project.

“Energy prices on geographical islands are typically 100% to 400% higher than on the mainland”, the commission states. “Therefore the large-scale deployment of local renewable energy sources brings economic benefits and, at the same time, contributes to decarbonise the energy system of the island, reduce greenhouse gases emissions and improve, or at least not deteriorate, air quality.”

Replicability is at the heart of the plans. To get funding, projects should have not only at least one demonstration on one island but also at least 2 other follower islands with similar issues, where similar plans could be adopted. Projects need to contribute to at least four of the following aims:

Achieve high levels of local renewable energy sources penetration;
Achieve highly integrated and digitalised smart grids;
Develop synergies between the different energy networks (electricity, heating, cooling, water, transport, etc.);
Achieve a very significant reduction of the use of hydrocarbon-based energies
Apply innovative approaches to storage, in particular relying on batteries.

The announcement by the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) is available here.