Renewable Energy Projects on Isolated Islands in Europe: A Policy Review

Abstract

Island territories that are not connected to the mainland grid have some peculiarities derived from their high level of isolation. For this reason, they are the subject of specific regulation in various European countries under the EU, national and local regulation. In order to deal with the high cost of energy on their territories, the lack of grid stability and the lack of autonomy, many initiatives that promote the introduction of energy self-sufficiency in isolated insular locations have emerged. The present paper is a policy review regarding islands non-interconnected with the mainland grid. The focus is on the key policy issues for the promotion of renewable energy as well as the outcomes of these policies in Greece, Portugal, Spain and France. A discussion of the unified price system, the creation of local markets and the special regulation for energy storage and the demand side management systems are some of the policy proposals cocluded from the present review. In order to overcome all the discussed barriers an approach that reaches across different governance levels with a special focus on the peculiarities of the island systems is needed.

Sustainability of local renewable energy projects: A comprehensive framework and an empirical analysis on two islands

“…In El Hierro, the economic dimension seemed to be the less successful. This is in line with our initial predictions as the direct economic benefits for the communities are minimal due to the policy design of the unified electricity price system in the Spanish territory (see Tsagkari and Jusmet (2020) for more details). On the contrary, in Tilos the economic benefits were ranked quite high, indicating that the reduction in the electricity bill although small is important.…”

“…The indirect economic benefits like job openings, and productive diversification of the area are more difficult to measure. In El Hierro there were no direct payments to the community due to the unified price system in the Spanish territory (see Tsagkari and Jusmet (2020). In the case of Tilos there was a small reduction in the electricity bill of the community that lead to economic savings.…”

Local Energy Projects on Islands: Assessing the Creation and Upscaling of Social Niches

“…The project shed light on the legal limitations regarding decentralized energy, including the pricing system, the licensing process, as well as numerous technical difficulties such as the grid stability [14]. Currently Greece has opened a public consultation regarding the regulation of hybrid power plants.…”

“…In this context, the present article discusses the emergence and development of decentralized renewable energy systems with a hybrid ownership model, as social niches which can push not only for a simple shift in energy generation technology, from fossil to renewable energy sources, but for a social shift in the energy management and consumption system. In the established regulatory and market frameworks in Greece, Spain, and Portugal, and under the interesting opportunities presented by the EU Clean Energy Package and the relevant provisions on citizen participation and energy communities of the Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001, various local and regional initiatives are being developed, implementing new structures and challenging the old regimes [14]. In this line, I assume that these decentralized energy initiatives (local or regional) oppose the established regimes of centralized electricity generation, as it is also discussed by other scholars [15].…”

Questioning Low-Carbon Transition Governance: A Comparative Analysis of European Case Studies

“…Interestingly, two of them (ES1 and DK) deal with insular areas and their main objective is to guarantee energy independence from the mainland: in ES1 the national authority allocated a considerable amount of economic resources that was enough to finance the development of a hydropower plant. This is related to the specific issue of energy self-sufficiency and the economic repercussions that an insular context might determine on the mainland on which it depends [55]. Very few cases (located in the center and south of Europe) are exclusively funded by the municipal authorities and they mostly include energy-saving measures, working on sustainable mobility and insulation of public buildings (ES2 and CH).…”