https://electrek.co/2019/01/14/tesla-microgrid-solar-batteries-power-greek-island/
[links in online article]
Tesla proposes microgrids with solar and batteries to power Greek islands
Fred Lambert
- Jan. 14th 2019 6:00 am ET
Tesla has met with the Greek government to propose ways to modernize the
electric grid of the country’s many islands in the Mediterranean sea
with microgrids and renewable energy to reduce their dependence on
fossil fuels.
Several Greek islands are relatively remote and rely heavily on fossil
fuels to power their electric grid.
Over the years, Tesla has acquired some experience in building
microgrids to power remote islands using solar panels and its energy
storage systems, like the Powerpack.
On the island of Ta’u in American Samoa, Tesla deployed a 1.4 MW solar
array and a 6 MWh energy storage system with 60 Tesla Powerpacks back in
2016.
It enables the islands to cut back significantly on its use of diesel to
power generators.
The company has since deployed many similar systems in Samoa, Hawaii,
Puerto Rico, and many other places.
Now they want to do something similar in Greece.
The Greek Minister of Environment and Energy, Mr. George Stathakis,
confirmed last week that they have met with Tesla to discuss the
deployment of microgrids in Greek islands.
They issued the following statement (translated from Greek via Capital.gr):
“Today, the Minister of Environment and Energy, Mr. George
Stathakis, met with Tesla executives in order to exchange views on the
strategy of fossil fuel dependence on the islands of the country,
especially those not connected in the next years with the mainland power
grid. The National Energy and Climate Plan provides for a gradual
abandonment of oil burning units and a switch to Renewable Energy
Sources (RES). However, the stochastic character of photovoltaic or wind
power action creates significant energy storage and recovery needs of
modern network management technologies.
The extremely interesting thing that emerged from the meeting is
that technological progress has now significantly reduced the cost of
energy storage. At the same time, successful competitions for new RES
investments in Greece, led to an equally significant reduction in the
cost of energy production. As a result, the conversion of the islands to
RES, apart from being environmentally useful, is now also economically
viable. In this context, cooperation with Tesla can prove to be
extremely beneficial, as the American company officials have
highlighted, showing strong interest in the initiatives promoted by the
Ministry for “smart” and “energy” islands.”
Tesla has reportedly already suggested a pilot project to demonstrate
their microgrid system in the region.
The government would like it to be on the island of Limnos:
The idea is to install a large solar array and combine it with an energy
storage facility to store the excess energy during the day and use it at
night when the sun is not shining.
In recent years, Tesla has become more present in Greece.
Last year, Tesla started building an electric motor research and
development center in Greece to tap into the strong local electrical
engineering talent.
