Wind Turbine Repowering in Kythnos, Greece (WIRE-K) is a project supported by NESOI European Islands managed by our partners from CERTH and promoted by the Public Power Corporation Renewables SMSA (PPCR).

What is WIRE-K?

As Dimitrios Angelopoulos and Apostols Antoniadis from PPCR told NESOI during the interview: “the first ever wind farm in Europe was in Kythnos”. The project aims to replace the existing wind turbines in the island with a more modern wind turbine and a “behind-the-meter” lithium-ion battery.

However, that requires the adaptation and implementation of a broader legal framework that includes the licensing of the new hybrid project. Once these issues will be solved, the local community will be consulted, so the environmental and social criteria are properly addressed.

The installation of this new arrangement that will combine newer technologies in the installation of batteries and wind generators, will allow to meet the energy needs of the island community.

Wind farms, what are the main challenges?

The European Union is committed to become the world leader in renewable energy. In this setting, wind power has always played an important role in the consecution of the EU energy targets that will lead to being carbon neutral by 2050 due to its cleanness and abundance. In fact, taking into account Eurostat ‘s data from 2020, it shows that wind power accounts for 36% of the total energy generated from renewables.

A wind farm is a group of turbines that cover a certain area of land (onshore) or sea (offshore) and in addition to energy benefits, it is also a big contributor other social aspects, such as the growth of the work market. According to Wind Europe, it contributed, directly or indirectly, to 240,00 – 300,000 jobs in 2020.

Nevertheless, in some of the countries of the Union, the regulation can be tedious and lengthy, specially for wind energy related projects. In this regard, the Renewable Energy Directive approved in 2018, has acted as a first step for these initiatives and since then, additional measures have been put in place making it easier for people become prosumers and create projects such as wind energy communities.

WIRE-K will benefit from these regulations and strive ultimately to the following objectives on the local community:  Economy growth due to ecotourism and increase of the grid stability.

 How does NESOI support this project?

In the case of Kythnos, the new wind turbine should have a 900-kW rated power. The production license of PPCR is 665 kW. Calculations show that the BESS’ optimal rated power is 390 kW. Thanks to this BESS, the island’s RES penetration should increase up to 31%. In order to achieve this, NESOI provided the following support:

1.  Analysis of permitting procedures, proposed contractual framework, design options, technical documentation, work plan and cost assumptions
2. Identification of existing litigations/appeals and evaluation of the associated risks
3. Analysis of the soundness of the assumed economic and financial inputs
4. Risk analysis and identification of available mitigation strategies
5. Listing of condition precedents (CPs) for successive project implementation steps (e.g. tender adjudication, financial close and disbursement, start construction, etc.)
6. Action plan and project identification of monitoring procedures