In this webinar, the experience of islands with hydrogen projects was presented. We first heard about Texel's clean energy transition, and how hydrogen was envisaged as a promising solution but ended up posing certain challenges for the implementation.

We also heard about Orkney's experience with the BIG HIT project, which aims at implementing a fully integrated model of hydrogen production, storage, transportation and utilisation for heat, power, and mobility.

Finally, Flexens presented an overview of the hydrogen projects they are involved in on the Åland Islands.

On 20 January 2022 the Clean energy for EU islands secretariat organised a webinar about the Regulary Inventory. The Clean energy for EU islands Regulatory Inventory is a publicly accessible online database that includes the national legislation, regulation, and policy framework for the support of clean energy technologies, projects, and initiatives. 

This webinar explained how the Clean energy for EU islands secretariat provides technical support to help island communities advance in their energy transition. Inspiring and concrete results were provided from the first round of technical assistance, for example: road transport electrification in Greek islands, funding and financing seminars tailored to energy projects.

The EU island forum 2022, was organised as an on-site event at the Rhodes Bay Hotel on Rhodes, Greece, and featured high-level keynotes by Greek MinisterKostas Skrekas and Commissioner Kadri Simson as well as MEP Tonino Picula - Chair of the SEArica intergroup, European Parliament, Chrysi Vitsilaki - Rector University of the Aegean and Antonis Kabourakis – Mayor of Rhodes, three plenaries (Act, Shape, Explore), four parallel sessions, and a site visit to the GR-eco-island Halki.  

SummarySince its foundation in 2001, Transition Management has been applied to diverse sustainability issues, policy contexts, and geographical scales. The approach provides a portfolio of tools that have as a common objective to enable change in practices and structures directed towards sustainable development targets, like the sustainable transformation of our energy system.To learn more about Transition Management, we connect with DRIFT, a leading research institute in the field of sustainability transitions that develops and shares transformative knowledge.

This is the recording of a training session held during the first Call for Videos of the Clean energy for EU islands secretariat. It is explained what kind of videos are expected, the evaluation criteria, and how to use an app to cut a video. 

Jorge Rodrigues de Almeida the secretariat’s financial lead has introduced the concept and aims of the newly established Island Marketplace in a one-and-a-half-hour online event, Isabel Rayo, from SUMA Capital provided her viewpoints, tips, and insights into the requirements for projects to be financed.

How does the Island Marketplace work?

Bornholm is a Danish island close to the southern coast of Sweden. There are around 39,500 people living on the island. The island has taken steps towards decarbonisation, especially concerning district heating systems, where local biomass is the main fuel. About 65 % of the electricity consumed by the island is produced on-site. The energy mix contains a combination of wind turbines, PV, biogas, and a woodchip fueled CHP. The interconnection to the mainland (sea cable to Sweden) has a limited capacity (60 MW).

On April 26, the Clean energy for EU islands secretariat organised the Energy Academy focusing on Estonian islands. This Energy Academy took place entirely online and was held in Estonian. The main focus of this Energy Academy included Estonian policy influencing the clean energy transition on Estonian islands, community energy, and opportunities and challenges for West-Estonian islands.