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Dimitrios Kardomateas recalls that on the island of Agios Efstratios, “Before, 100% of electricity was produced from diesel, using diesel engines. In addition to producing CO₂ emissions, the cost was very high, about three or four times the cost on the mainland. That’s in terms of the cost of each kilowatt-hour produced. So, it was harming us in two ways: environmentally and economically. And the same was true for the heating of buildings. So, when this whole project was completed, we were able to reduce the total cost of electricity production to levels almost equal to those seen on the mainland.”
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The project met its goals, but what happens when renewable sources are unavailable?
The island still does not 100% rely on green energy. Nor was that the plan for this Ai Stratis – Green Island pilot project, which exceeded its very carefully calibrated goals in the first year of operation.
“The goal was to cover 85% of electricity needs and 75% of heating needs with renewable energy. The results have shown that, during these first ten months, 91% of electricity and 85% of heating demand have been covered by energy from renewable sources. That is a very positive result.” – Dimitrios Kardomateas, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer, CRES
“Maybe over the years we will cover 100% of needs at certain points. But if there are some days of prolonged absence of wind, combined with cloudiness, the renewable energy sources will be offline. Therefore, in those rare cases, the island will need to have an alternative, using conventional diesel, but the goal is for its use to be less than 10% throughout the year,” he explains.
But to what extent is this project replicable elsewhere? Is it really possible to eliminate CO₂ and other greenhouse-gas emissions in electricity production in Greece and Europe? Kardomateas is optimistic.
“I believe that electricity decarbonisation can be achieved across the country over the next ten years. And why not across Europe? In the next ten years, all we need is to install batteries and have pumped storage systems or other means of storing electricity, while maintaining the current pace of renewable energy development.” – Dimitrios Kardomateas, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer, CRES
