Moderation: Jorge Rodrigues de Almeida – Financial lead, Clean energy for EU islands secretariat (RdA)

Julia Guyon - International Energy Agency
Petros Markopoulos - Project Manager, DAFNI Network of Sustainable Greek Islands
Maria Xylia - Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute
Rahul Pratap Singh - Investor of European Energy Efficiency Fund (eeef)
Evangelos Bekiaris - Director, Hellenic Institute of Transport (HIT), President, Hellenic Institute of Electric Vehicles (HELIEV)

Island testimonials of clean energy transition strategy on European islands

Moderation: Jan Cornillie – Project director, Clean energy for EU islands secretariat (3E)

Alfons Röblom - Energy Minister (Aland islands)
Diana-Paula Gherasim - Eurelectric (EU)
Finnbar Howell - KRA (Ireland)
Rosa Mingo Ávila and Luis García Benedicto - IDAE (Spain)
Andrei Moarcas - Overseas Countries and Territories Association (OCTA)

Alexis Chatzimpiros, Project Manager at the Samsø Energy Academy, gave a short introduction of the most important elements of the RePower EU package and a short statement for the islands in their energy transition. 

At the forum, we want to facilitate a dialogue between islands and share experiences from the islands regarding the clean energy transition. However, also need to talk about technical assistance, strategies and agendas, and move to some of the pressing topics concerning research and innovation or how to set up energy storage. The RePowerEU package was also an important topic of the second day of the Clean energy for EU islands forum2022 – together with the question – what does it mean for the islands?

Students of the University of the Aegean and pupils from Rhodes high school were asked to take part in deliberation on energy and climate dilemma. Results were presented to the plenary.

All participants were divided into groups using the colour of name tags and balloons that had the same colour and numbers on them. Each group sat down together to discuss two questions.

Antonis Kabourakis – Mayor of Rhodes

The mayor welcomed all participants and the previous speakers of the Clean energy for EU islands forum 2022 to Rhodes. Antonis Kabourakis started his speech with a quote by the Australian politician Bob Brown "The future will either be green or not at all", followed by a description of what the Aegean Islands are planning and doing in terms of clean energy and sustainability. He especially highlighted the importance of sustainable tourism for these islands.

Kostas Skrekas - Greek Minister for Environment and Energy welcomed all participants to the EU islands forum and set out the role of Greek islands as inspiring innovation labs – with a high number of low-carbon initiatives. 

This year, maybe more than ever, the transition to clean energy is coming to the fore. Due to the Russian invasion in Ukraine, the whole of Europe is going to face a winter of high energy prices. This situation added to insecurity of energy supplies, another reason not to waste any more time in the transition to renewable energy. For islands, the topics of energy security and independence is gaining even more importance. The whole continent of Europe needs to think like an island.

The Technology solutions booklet provides an overview of energy technologies that are currently commercially available for islands to advance in their clean energy transition. Technologies are grouped per sector: electricity, heating and cooling, transport, and storage. For each technology, a short description is first presented, followed by its pros and cons for its implementation on islands. Finally, island examples are provided to give inspiration and explain how European islands are adopting these technologies in practice.

Are you working on an island to advance its energy transition? Do you need technical support for an energy project or energy strategy? In our webinar we will explain how to apply for the new call for technical assistance launched by the Clean energy for EU islands secretariat with deadline on 4 May 2021.