Towards a new concept for energy production, distribution and monitoring for islands
Nov. 9, 2020
Islands energy systems are a particular case characterized by a high investment, insulation costs, low profitability, limited connection to energy market, over-dependence on fossil fuels and high emissions. All these properties make it difficult to move towards a more sustainable system in line with the fight against global climate change. On the other hand, islands have a great potential to integrate distributed renewable energy sources such as marine energy sources or wind and solar irradiation production systems. In this context, IFISC (UIB-CSIC) participates in VPP4Islands, an Innovation Action project funded by the European Commission.
The VPP4Islands project aims to provide innovative tools to facilitate the integration of renewable energy sources into existing grid systems in islands while ensuring the stability of the energy system and flexibility of ancillary services such as scheduling, dispatch, balancing, reactive power, frequency and voltage control. In order to validate and evaluate the proposed solutions, two use cases in real-life with diverse assets in two leading European islands are planned, one of them in Formentera (Illes Balears). The control and optimization of different systems will be extended to consider not only electrical, but also multi-energy vectors. Moreover, the qualified VPP4Islands solutions will be replicated in 3 follower islands, in order to generate and initiate smart sustainable energy plans. Also, VPP4Islands will generate durable social and environmental values for the benefit of consumers. The consortium of the project, whose initial meeting was held on October 22, is composed of 1 large company, 1 distribution system operator (DSO), 7 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), 3 universities and research institutions, including IFISC (CSIC-UIB), 2 regional transmission organizations (RTOs), 3 islands administrations including the Consell Insular de Fromentera, and 2 non-profits organization, all of them coordinated by the Universite d’Aix Marseille (France). VPP4 Islands will have a duration of 4 years.
More information on the project can be found on its website.
