How a tiny Greek island became a model of renewable energy | Focus on Europe

[@RuleofFive]

I wish there were more leaders like her. She sees the problem of the old power grid and fossil fuels and went through the EU paperwork to make it happen for her people. If it can work there it can work in many places! A rare glimmer of hope!

[@alkasoli4002]

Exactly

[@Hession0Drasha]

Greece is uniquely placed to do this all over. Hopefully if they get more capacity, they can use the surplus energy to produce fresh water. And grow beautifull forests around the island. 😊

[@Laconic-Spartan]

Sure, but not exactly "all-over". We won't turn this magnificent land Zeus gifted to his people in order to turn it into a dystopic place full of aerogenerators. Only where we can't see them. Still, there are enough such places.

[@rir.]

メッチャ暑いです。猛暑です。温暖化ヤヴァイです。 アイスはウマいです。

[@puntuated]

I traveled to Tilos 6 yrs ago and witnessed early research being done by the University of East Anglia in the UK. It was wonderful to see.

[@raxelleon8189]

Even after all these years the Greeks still rely on the power of the Gods, specifically Aeolus and Helios.

[@tellyboy17]

The Greek Gods have always been very fickle though...

[@Laconic-Spartan]

And Boriades. The two brothers who were blowing wind North. That's where our word for "North" comes from. Boria. Most of our words come from the extremely rich mythology/theogony. According to their abilities, they became verbs/nouns etc. The night for instance is called "Nyx". Similar case for the word "day". I'd say at least the 60-65% of our words.

[@aaronparys1750]

Awesome… hopefully they can upgrade the grid and get better performance from the system

[@gaarakabuto1]

The problem is not that the grid is old, the problem is that the island is required to be connected to main energy production grid, meaning that whatever they produce goes to the energy factory (in which case is located in Ko island) and then they drain the energy of the main grid. The law doesn't allow for the island to directly use the energy they produce.

[@johnmccarthy115]

Excellent good news story 👍 Great to see forward thinkers leading the way 🤘

[@tomkelly8827]

Great to see! It would have been good to also note the battery pack at the base of the wind turbine, that is a key part of the system. Next up, it looks like that island needs water! It looks so dry!

[@CIutchX]

This is a problem the current administration has vowed to solve. One of the main problem of Greece's islands was and still is their reliance on Diesel generators, because they weren'aren't conneted to the main power gird of mainland Greece, which further isolates them. This is a powerful step that can be further expanded. The connection to the mainland could be used for exporting energy into the mainland and further to other nations. It also can make sure that in case of maintanance or damages it can be supplied by the main grid!

[@manyulgarprsch]

Even Crete or Eubeia aren't connected? Not even Rhodes?

[@tpop3723]

I wouldn’t hold your breath with the current administration.

[@NickZaharakisChiefOfficer]

They are. Crete has just got connected through last year with the most expensive and longest submerged cable in the world. This cable has now connected to the grid several major islands in the cyclades as well.

[@Cinemaphile7783]

I love Greek food

[@kreb7]

Actualy Samos had put wind turbines over 25 years ago

[@stephenrickstrew7237]

It’s the smaller power generation plants that pollute disproportionately compared to larger plants .. like how a 2 stroke weedeater pollutes worse than most cars

[@9UaYXxB]

And that's accurate, but a large coal fired plant is going to pollute worse than a natural gas fired facility... even one of larger size.

[@mvb7503]

islands like tilos and färöer show and lead us day by day into a new era of only renawable energies!

[@mrrey8937]

for an island yes, thats about it.

[@Co-km6cl]

Färöer just eff it up again by killing hundreds of whales and dolphins every year

[@veganbutcherhackepeter]

You do understand that there's a huge difference between a tiny island and, say, a big landlocked country?

[@sassa82]

And how is this relevant to a country in Europe. The Farö islands have fewer inhabitans than a small city anywhere in Europe.

[@marinellaartist]

I really hope that they will do it also in Crete 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 we need to be independent.

[@Valery0p5]

I remember that awful disel generator on Favignana, and Lampedusa still had rolling blackdouts two years ago, as the sun shined on midday, begging to be collected with solar panels... These islands should be the easiest ones to convert and become self sufficient; we can't wait anymore

[@petterbirgersson4489]

Solar panels, wind turbines and big batteries are perfect for the Mediterranean area.

[@tellyboy17]

Hardly the first Greek island to be "self sufficient"(except for the intermittency problem of course), the Island of Cephalinia produces twice the amount it consumes with its wind farms.

[@alberthartl8885]

Not sure if they have storage. It would be nice to be a complete microgrid. No reason for all the Greek islands not getting electricity from renewables. Here in California about 35% of our electricity comes from renewables. Texas does even more. The biggest problem is bureaucratic logjam to get transmission permits.

[@a.tartist]

In Greece as a general 34% of electricity comes from renewable

[@jasongaylard2547]

Sweet!

[@peterdollins3610]

The wind is either blowing or the sun is shining on those islands--lived on Sifnos for 7 years--then there are the mountains so pumped hydro will be easy to set along with ordinary batteries. Before tourism the needs of the islanders were considerably less along with a self-sufficient life style. This week we had the two warmest days ever recorded on earth, Monday & Tuesday. If we want to survive we need to get serious about solar, wind, nuclear power with interconnections linking up distant areas to bring power in & pump it out. Greece has suffered. From 1985 all the weather patterns that are noted in Greek poetry and literature for the last 2,500 years as regular patterns changed. Longer periods with no rain. Torrential rain storms that broke down terraces. The regular seasons disappearing into a series of mini seasons. The rise of the tides & the gigantic growth in pollution from 1994 on. The appearance of stinging jellyfish then swarms of them. Newspapers reported these as coming from ships pumping out ballast arriving out of tropical areas.

[@CIutchX]

Nuclear power ain't a good idea as our country and especially our islands are in earthquake zones which could lead to massive environmental catastrophes. I'm excited to see how the islands will manage. It's in the works to connect them with the mainland by the end of this decade, which could be beneficial for the islands but also the country, as the excess of energy generated by solar or wind could be transferred to the mainland and then exported if needed. The islands can look forward to a brighter future. Only thing I am worrying about is the water supply, as they have to rely on desalination.

[@segurosincero4057]

How do they store the power they produce?

[@davidkyzer7045]

They don’t store it….. use diesel power from another island for back up😅

[@backacheache]

I'm sure they have plans to add a battery as an interface between their "microgrid" and the undersea cable to the main grid

[@Rasarel]

They don't need to store it because it's sunny the whole year every day apart from maybe 2 weeks and it's windy every second day as well....

[@segurosincero4057]

@@nntflow7058 touché. Nicely done.

[@benjaminschuler3751]

When he shows on the laptop how much energy the turbine is producing, you can literally see that there is a battery for storage.

[@matthewbaynham6286]

However the island doesn't have 100% green energy, it has 100% green elctricity. The difference between having 100% green energy and 100% green electricity is an important difference, because they still have cars and that ferry. They don't show whether the restsurant used gas to cook or not, but almost all restaurants use gas over electricity for cooking. When they have a hydrogen ferry that they can fuel with green hydrogen or an electric ferry, plus 100% electric cars, and all the cooking being electric and everything being green energy, that will be a good moment, but it's more difficult than just the electricity. But this was a good first step.

[@NickZaharakisChiefOfficer]

As for cars google the other Greek island. ASTYPALAIA. ANOTHER BREAKTHROUGH THERE

[@bored833]

it is THAT easy!

[@maineusaMax]

That's very easy to do on a small island. Try it on a whole continent.

[@sarfrazsarfraz2344]

Endless wind energy is enough to power 3earths.....

[@mrrey8937]

and yet it cant........costs, maintenance and unreliability are well documented. Something this pie in the sky news report does not tell you.

[@DavidWang-q9z]

We might not even need any radio stations that require video footage!!

[@hansmaulwurf6805]

No Lady, you were not wrong. Nice one!

[@Nikechagias]

ΑΓΑΘΑ ΚΟΠΟΙΣ ΚΤΩΝΤΑΙ. NO PAIN NO GAIN

[@michaeltorio3459]

Aurora the northernlights 😶

[@ralphmumbeck5758]

Wind and solar is a perfect investment for small communities and individuals who wish to go "offgrid" and become financially independent 👍👍👍

[@tellyboy17]

All you need is 24/7/365 solar irradiation an non stop wind.

[@toram6210]

1 typhoon can break those weak solar panel structure

[@angelikalindenau943]

Can we please clone this mayor?!

[@alkasoli4002]

Wow

[@dimitriosfromgreece4227]

🇬🇷❤️🇬🇷❤️ Patrida

[@MjcellUser]

❤❤❤

[@AndreasDelleske]

Enercon!

[@علي-ش7ث8ب]

*They're still using the old diesel power plant.*

[@Ptolemy336VV]

Many places in Europe are still on old tech. The idea is that it's shifting to full green energy. That means: FULL. Not half. It's better than no green energy.

[@Maverick_42]

Great initiative. When the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine, where does the electricity come from? Kos' power plant? What % of the electricity consumed in 2022 was green? Would have been enlightening to have these questions covered.

[@B4rr4cudk4]

I went there this year ( Kos ) and was wondering myself. I doubt there is day without wind :D Anyways, I looked on internet and it seem that 84% of year power consumption comes from geothermal.

[@ryoukwjdbwopqmqpzl73819]

Hydropower like Norway does

[@mrrey8937]

This is where most mainstream news serves to disinform and misrepresent reality. I have done some digging into wind power a couple years back and found how terrible it is for communities. I recently (couple of months ago) came across an article where a country (forgot which one) gave up on wind power as it became to costly with tons of maintenance requirements and unreliable. Wind and solar are fantastic on a much smaller scale for remote locations or individual families where power is inaccessible or to reduce energy cost, that's about it.

[@marco21274]

​@mrrey8937 So you give no sources and we simply should trust you?😂

[@Mike-mi7vn]

That’s called a bad investment

[@DSAK55]

Ironic, that looks like an _Enercon_ directive wind turbine. It's a German company.

[@backacheache]

So a European made wind turbine in European country? Sounds good 😊

[@paparantzaremalaka]

​@@backacheachewhat exactly I European, my dear? All the sourcing comes from China, with no control on the environmental consequences of mining the rare earth materials. Wake up

[@backacheache]

@@paparantzaremalaka you don't need to use rare-earth minerals in the type of generators wind-turbines use so we cannot assume this one is.

[@relaxingsounds6168]

With all those cheap and easy solutions, I don't understand why energy in Germany became so expensive. Something doesn't add up. 😶

[@Psi-Storm]

They are cheap now. The German citizens paid for the development and scaling of PV and wind, with high private electricity prices. Where you can now build 1kw of pv in the field for 300€, the same did cost 10000€ 20 years ago. The EEG is a feed in tariff warranty, so people in 2020 still paid for the pv build in 2000.

[@mariapkm]

Ελα στην Ελλάδα να δεις τι πληρωνουμε για την ενέργεια κ τα παντα. Με 24% φπα στα προϊόντα πρωτης αναγκης κ με μισθους των 500€.

[@tbd-5160]

It sucks they still have to give power to others. They should be a power independent island as an example of what's possible.

[@Wolfcamp555]

They are giving up power. They have to connect to the diesel powered plant because wind and solar can't stand on its own, even with storage.

[@backacheache]

​@@Wolfcamp555Could they not add a big battery system like a Tesla Megapack and add more solar as needed?

[@Wolfcamp555]

@@backacheache idk. Not to toot my own horn but I'm in Texas and we have the largest wind and solar grid in the nation. They added batteries to the substations. I think the purpose of the batteries are to help maintain frequency and prevent interruption when switching from solar/wind/gas/coal/ nuclear sources.

[@malcolmrose3361]

@@backacheache You could see the battery pack in the opening shots of the wind turbine, and there was a reference when you saw the digital output of how much CO2 they were saving. Unfortunately Greek law (I understand) won't allow them to cut their ties with the grid entirely. The Cycladic islands are one area of the world that's ideal for renewables - 300+ days of sunshine and it's also reliably windy (the island is right in the path of the Meltemi wind which blows from North to South all through the Summer) - the average wind speed all year round is well above the minimum speed for the turbine to work. I'd guess there are very, very few days where one or both systems isn't working. They'll already have solar water heaters, and there are probably private PV systems and batteries on the island as well as the island systems - all of these are quite common in Greece. Given the island's location the typical pattern is hordes of tourists in July and August (along with concomitant power and water consumption) - perhaps a few at Easter. A lot of the village inhabitants may well move to the mainland over the winter (after all, there's bugger all to do there over the winter). So the peak consumption would be in the Summer, when the sun is shining and the Meltemi wind reliably blows.

[@sassa82]

This is not really relevant or helpful for the climate. There are many videos like this about remote islands or villages. But you cannot not scale it up to large cities and countries with millions of people.

[@ishowspppd7494]

🤣 hilarious cuz it will never work for Major urban cities

[@TimWins-oo4wl]

But Sadly Russia controls 60% of Uranium used in nuclear plants and China has full control on Ev batteries and Solar powerstill Eu and Usa depended Authoritarian states 😂 Last decade depended on Russian oil now Green energy dependent on Russia and china 😂

[@michaeltorio3459]

Forvever car houses building underground fate stay night anime tv series is fashion 😲

[@walkman1984]

that thing kills lots of birds

[@MichaelDeHaven]

Pollution from fossil fuel power plants kills orders of magnitudes more. Not to mention all the humans that are made sick and killed from the same pollution. Nothing is perfect, we just need to do better.

[@panoszouzos8052]

Its tiny 😂 it doesnt matter when the earth is doomed. This is green washing. And a joke😅

[@kuvikina]

It is 12 Island region, and this is the Turkish island under Greek occupation! End Greek occupation NOW!

[@armyofimrankhanpti1516]

As an Indian we are all concerned of pope extremism, police brutality and religious atrocities in Germany. Why government is not showing that ???

[@Troobeli69]

With all those billions of euros the northern european countries paid to greece. Amazing indeed.

[@NickZaharakisChiefOfficer]

You like to say nasty things don't you? Another clueless person in regards to the debt crisis.

[@Kartoffelsuppe_m_Wursteinlage]

Any reason why we should pay for greek energy problems? What do we have in common with Turkeyiie, North Cyprus, Hungary or Poland? Let them do whatever they want, but without our money!!!

[@kristaps5296]

Bro, your grαⲛdⲣⲁreⲛⲧs were liⲧerαl ⲛⲁⲍⲓς

[@TurboHz]

So if not for tourism there would be no sustainability issues? Hmmm...

[@nathrezim3703]

You can only find the best example of renewable energy in small communities. That is the point. Renewable energy is not sufficient enough or economical enough to sustain a society in large scale , yet.

[@taylorbolduc1763]

Big nations are just a lot of small communities

[@ayoCC]

Small communities can overdo on the infrastructure they build. Large communities try to spend right at the edge of viability.

[@jcdisci]

You want a model for renewable energy? Rebuild Ukraine using Tesla Megapaks, Power Walls , solar roofs and virtual power grids. Ukraine could become the first Country to EXPORT renewable energy.

[@malcolmrose3361]

Countries export renewable energy to each other all the time via interconnectors as part of their grid balancing - so the Ukraine would hardly be the first.

[@Ptolemy336VV]

I think such projects are better suited for countries like Spain or Greece. Greece has a lot of wind on the Aegean and it has endless sun.

[@krzysztofgorecki1667]

do not show it because homeless people from all over Africa will come there soon

[@Frank-dv3st]

can we fly the climate activists there ?

[@Wolfcamp555]

Only if they disconnect from the diesel generators😂

[@153haring]

Sailboat.

[@veganbutcherhackepeter]

A tiny Island were everything is in "cable distance" is quite different from organizing this for a big country. Not that it can't be done, but it's a whole different ballgame. Just saying.

[@153haring]

"it's a whole different ballgame" Yes, the big country is proportionately easier.

[@Ptolemy336VV]

Greece has highly complex challenges my uneducated Vegan. Greece is 80% mountains and the most complex geography and topography almost one can find with complex indentations of the mainland with all the mountains and then 6000 islands all around. How do you connect all of the islands to a powergrid. Connecting electricity grid in France or Germany is near INFINITELY easier to do. Before you write something, you maybe first do a 2 minute research on what may be the elements to complicate things. I know you had the IQ of above 40 to understand that population is 1 thing. But did you really think this is the only factor? Hilarious. Greece had to fully create it's infrastructure with highways all across the country consisting of 2000 tunnels though mountain landscapes everywhere. Before 15 years ago none of these existed and people had to make far longer routes, that are far slower to get to further distances from region to region. This has together with Greece and EU funding been realised. So it's another point to why Greece's geography is the most complicating factor. Also do remind yourself that Athens has 4-5 million population. Which is therefor also a complicated matter for a city like that.

[@allmightyyyy]

People are dying in Germany and Germany is doing hypocrisy 😢

[@dissaid]

@luigispitlip ❤

[@sumirahmirah-f4i]

❤❤❤

[@sumirahmirah-f4i]

❤❤❤