The European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) is a yearly series of activities to build a secure energy future for Europe. It includes the EUSEW Policy Conference, Networking Village, the EU Sustainable Energy Awards and Energy Days. Launched in 2006, it is organised by the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) in close cooperation with Directorate-General for Energy. This year’s theme is Clean Energy for all Europeans, following the European commission’s November proposals to facilitate the move towards the Energy Union.
The Policy Conference (it took place from 20 to 22 June 2017) is the most important European conference dedicated to sustainable energy policy issues. Sessions organised by the European Commission and energy stakeholders debate new policy developments, best practices and sustainable energy ideas, while networking events forge alliances. The EU Sustainable Energy Awards recognise outstanding innovation in energy efficiency and renewables. Nominees / finalists are chosen from a shortlist of the year’s most successful projects for clean, secure and efficient energy. With prizes from an expert jury and European citizens, the Awards highlight new ways to shape Europe’s energy future.
Anyone in the EU can submit a recent project – from a local initiative to an industry-wide programme – that could help citizens, industry and the public sector work towards the Energy Union. Last year, hundreds of contenders submitted projects, from which nine final nominees (finalists) were chosen and four winners.
The nominees have been selected from a pool of applicants across Europe, each project demonstrating initiatives to support the transition to clean, secure, efficient energy. The top award recipients will be chosen in each of the four jury-assessed categories – Consumers, Public Sector, Businesses and, new this year, Energy Islands.
TILOS Island winner of the EUSEW Award 2017
Greek island ready for switch to renewable energy storage: EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) Awards 2017 Finalist – TILOS Island in June 2017. Sharing knowledge for energy-efficient heating and cooling.
A renewable energy revolution is happening on the remote Greek island of Tilos, near Rhodes, where the country’s first hybrid, renewable energy-based battery station and smart microgrid will begin construction this summer.
This represents the centrepiece of the TILOS project, which aims to demonstrate how islands can move away from relying on expensive and polluting oil-based energy imports, avoid power cuts and contribute towards renewable energy growth.
With a population of around 400, Tilos is currently supplied with oil-based electricity from neighbouring Kos via an undersea cable that is however vulnerable to faults. To address this, the TILOS project has designed a battery-based storage system that will in effect turn the island into a resilient RES-based microgrid using only wind and solar power. A smart energy management system will be able to isolate the island in the event of a cable fault and reconnect it to Kos as soon as the fault is restored.
Once up and running the TILOS system will cover approximately 70 % of local demand in stand-alone operation, with the vision being to get close to 100 % in the near future. The commercial potential of this model could be significant given the number of Greek islands that currently depend on oil-based energy imports. The project has created a platform involving Pellworm, La Graciosa and Corsica to share implementable results with other European islands.
Piraeus University of Applied Sciences – Greece’s first hybrid renewable energy storage (RES) battery has been installed on the remote island of Tilos, reducing its reliance on oil-based energy imports and providing back-up during power cuts.
