Demonstration Sites

The GIFT project develops a vision for decarbonising the energy systems on islands that is closely linked with the challenge and scope of the topic it  addresses. A detailed and methodical analysis of the call has allowed to link the activities of the project with the challenge of the topic and the impact targeted.

GIFT takes care of having two demonstration sites, in order to be representative and relevant when proposing solutions at the EU level.

Each one has its own issues and specificities.

The Hinnøya island cluster, Norwegian demonstration site includes Hinnøya Norway’s largest island (2,204 km²) and its neighbouring islands Grytøya, Bjarkøya and Sandsøya. The Hinnøya island has 32,000 inhabitants and is shared between eight municipalities. The main city is Harstad, connected to the mainland via a bridge, and is located in north part of the island Hinnøya. The small islands Grytøya, Bjarkøya and Sandsøya are situated in the northern outskirts of the Harstad city and are a part of the Harstad municipality. Transport wise, they are connected to the Hinnøya island via a diesel operated ferry several times a day. The electricity supply in Harstad is mainly from hydropower with similar price as mainland. But the energy supply for transport is from fossil fuel. Moreover, the increasing energy demand requires more imported coal-based electricity, especially in winter time. The Municipality aims to decrease carbon emissions from energy systems through more energy-efficient buildings and increase local renewable energy supply.

Procida is an Italian small island of the Tyrrhenian Sea with about 10.500inhabitants. Procida is connected by a 30Kv submarine cable to the nearby IschiaIsland, and it is from this only source that electricity reaches the island and covers the needs of the entire Procida population. Procida current electricity system is handled by ENEL S.p.a, thanks to the connections with the mainland.

PRO will form a contract with local DSO (ENEL) for providing balancing services to DSO through VPS, by using flexibility provided by included prosumers.

ENEL will allow installation of metering equipment and provide DMS data to the project and will support and observe the GIFT project for future cooperation.

Procida usually does not experience grey-outs and blackouts. As regard the prosumers on the island, Procida includes 4 harbours, 15 factories, around 7000 Private houses and 3 EVs but currently not working. The most energy intensive loads are registered by homes and hotels. As regard electricity produced from renewable sources present in the territory, there are only photovoltaic systems. Considering the RES potential, Procida has a significant solar irradiation that can be easily used by PV systems.

Lastly, in the Municipality of Procida there are no thermal energy production plants, such as geothermal plants, waste-to-energy and biomass plants.