From the 6 -11 March 2023, a group of ten people joined a study tour in Astypalea, an island in the archipelago of Dodecanese, in Greece. The participants, that came from five other countries, namely, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain, were hosted by the Municipality of Astypalea and DAFNI, the Network of Sustainable Greek Islands.

The this first NESOI ERASMUS Short Study Tour (NESOI SST1) was successfully coordinated by our partners from R2M Solution, who were also present during the five days of stay, not only supporting the organisation with the hosts, but also as an active part of the discussion.

About the programme

The general topics of NESOI SST1 were energy communities and e-mobility projects. However, the specific emphasis was on the presentation of NESOI best practices and legal frameworks, the creation of fora with other project developers, the discussion with key local stakeholders during site visits and the hands-on training on EU financial tools and the NESOI Facilitating web-platform (NEF).

The agenda for each day had a strong focus on one of the aforementioned verticals:

Objectives of Day 1:

• Understanding the situation of the energy landscape in Astypalea
• Creation of a knowledge sharing space about the energy transition path of Greek and similar islands
• Learn about e-mobility projects, from regulation to project implementation.

Objectives of Day 2:

• Learning best practices from the Greek Island innovative energy projects
• Increase the understanding of the legal aspects and the framework of the EU, based on the experiences from Samso, Croatia and Greece
• Hands-on practice of PESTLE analysis and debottlenecking of EC project development
• Learn from the Maltezana project co-creation experience

 Objectives of Day 3:

• Learn to identify the appropriate EC tools for each project
• Presentation of the NEF platform

More than a knowledge exchange

The idea of the study tour started by the need of fostering knowledge exchange related to energy transition topics among the islands that, due to their special geographical situation, can be particularly challenging. NESOI strives for the replication of best practices, and the study tour provided a space for discussion among interested stakeholders.

The programme of five days had as strong basis on a continuous exchange among participants, institutional stakeholders, and local beneficiaries.  This ensured the showcase of best practices, to improve project development capacity and boost the networking, which is ultimately what will enable all this to become a reality.

The study tour alternated more traditional informative sessions with visits to places of interest in the area, such as the settlement of Maltezana or the castle of Astypalea, a visit that counted with the Mayor of Astypalea himself, Mr Nikolaos Komineas, as a tour guide.

Download the dedicated brief HERE.