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- 2000: Installation of a fully automatic control system (Intelligent Power System);
- 2001: Operation of a PV-powered autonomous microgrid with batteries and diesel generator back-
up in the Gaidouromandra area.
A hybrid power plant system with battery storage and an intelligent management system on Kythnos
combines diesel generators, wind turbines and solar panels, with a battery storage unit and a converter
to alternating current. In practical terms, the power plant system can produce up to 2.8 megawatts
during the summer. Although the most recent wind turbines are not connected, the system meets the
island’s demand. When solar energy covers demand, the diesel system is automatically turned off, and
vice versa. The electricity is transported, stored and converted. During the winter, the system provides
renewable energy for 12 or 13 hours per day. The diesel unit is made up of four diesel generators of
300kW and three of 400kW. A diesel engine is used as a back-up.
Three times a year, a ship delivers oil to the harbour. 16 truck convoys are needed to carry the oil.
Energy and a converter are funded by the EU.
The microgrid of Gaidouromandra is a stand-alone system which is not connected to the island’s
electrical system. PV modules produce electricity which is fed into the local microgrid, powering a
number of summer houses and one farm. The excess electricity is stored in batteries while a diesel
generator is available as back-up. Inverters and power electronics (“Sunny Boy” and “Sunny Island”)
which were installed for demonstration purposes maintain the efficient operation of the microgrid.
The microgrid is monitored and maintained by CRES, the Greek national entity for the promotion of
renewable energy sources, rational energy use and energy conservation.

Furthermore, smart meters are currently being installed in Kythnos, in the context of the “Smart Grids in
five Aegean Islands – Development of smart-grid infrastructure in autonomous islands of the Aegean
Sea” project, run by the “European Local ENergy Assistance” (ELENA) programme of the European
Investment Bank (EIB).The programme is funded through the European Commission’s Horizon 2020
programme. Overall, the project will promote smart grids in the five Aegean islands, including Kythnos,
in order to improve the quality of electricity provision, foster the penetration of renewable energy in
local energy production and make energy loads more flexible through consumption-based measures.
Building on the above, Kythnos, as one of the five demo sites across Europe for the HORIZON2020
project WiseGRID project, will host a state-of-the-art integrated electricity system that includes:
- electrical vehicle charging stations;

- procurement of electrical vehicles;
- energy storage systems (batteries) for public/municipal buildings;
- equipment for optimising the operation of a desalination plant;
- energy storage systems (batteries) to increase renewable energy penetration in the local energy mix;
- equipment for the flexible and optimal operation of the electricity network.

Website for WiseGrid project: http://www.wisegrid.eu/
Website for ELENA programme: http://www.eib.org/products/advising/elena/index.htm

Samsø has amassed a great deal of experience with a wide variety of local renewable energy projects,
from wind turbines to CO2-neutral district heating plants, rapeseed oil tractors and solar energy panels.
Logically, the Samsø Energy Academy, situated close to the picturesque harbour village and tourist
magnet Ballen, developed as a competence centre to spread information about smart solutions in
energy.
This experience can be drawn upon through the Academy, and local and foreign researchers and
scientists spend time at the Academy performing research based on the easy access to all these
energy systems, where windmills, straw-fuelled district heating and thermal solar panel systems and
the people who initiated them are close at hand.

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