- EU Islands Facility NESOI has revealed the results of its 1st open call selected 28 clean energy projects to support
- Most of the projects comprise photovoltaic technology and are categorized basis their maturity level
- Winning projects have secured €3.2 million grant as technical, legal and financial support to carry out complementary studies and action plans
- NESOI plans to launch its 2nd open call for in the autumn of 2021
The EU Islands Facility New Energy Solutions Optimised for Islands (NESOI) has zeroed in on 28 innovative clean energy projects out of 117 applications it received from 14 countries involving over 100 islands, in response to its first open call launched in October 2020.
“The selected projects will support the EU Island Facility NESOI environmental and economic objectives as well as contribute to achieving the EU’s broader clean energy targets as outlined in the EU Green Deal,” stated NESOI.
NESOI explained that almost all the project selected will generate energy from renewable energy sources, mainly photovoltaic, and other technologies as wind, pumped hydro, and tidal energy. More than half of the projects are also interested in energy storage and energy efficiency interventions on public assets.
Some of the PV projects that have made the cut include the following:
- Sustaining drinking water services and electromobility in insular areas by integrating grid-tied and autonomous PV power in Tilos island of Greece
- Feasibility study for electric solar boat transportation to Elafiti on Elafiti island of Croatia
- Community-Supported Energy: A Step to Community SOLAR Islands on Korcula, Cres-Losinj island of Croatia
- Feasibility study for energy storage and solar energy in Lipari island of Italy
- Preparation of tender documentation for a large nonintegrated photovoltaic power plant on the islands of Krk in Croatia
Winning projects will get a combined €1.6 million ($1.46 million) in the form of technical and legal assistance, and another €1.6 million as financial support to carry out complementary studies and action plans. Together, these are expected to mobilize more than €1 billion ($1.2 billion) of investments while bringing in primary energy savings of around 541.5 GWh annually with an average of 19 GWh per project.
In all, the projects are spread across 40 EU islands in 10 nations, including 2 in Baltic, 5 from Atlantic, 7 from West Mediterranean, and 14 from East Mediterranean regions. The winning projects have also been classified under various categories basis their maturity levels. List of winning projects is available on NESOI’s website.
NESOI said it will launch the 2nd open call for applications in the autumn of 2021.
Background
The European Commission launched NESOI in 2019, as a consortium of 10 recognized institutions from 7 EU member states, to provide requisite technical and financial support to local island entities for effective development of their energy transition plans.
NESOI’s mandate is to last till 2023 by when it is expected to exhaust a €10 million grant availed under the Horizon2020 initiative of the European Commission. Out of this €10 million, it will be required to direct €6.2 million to support islands in their energy transition process.
In November 2019, 6 islands belonging to Croatia, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Ireland and Greece submitted their decarbonization goals the under clean energy for EU Islands Initiative (see Six EU Islands Chart Road To Clean Energy Transition).
