Feasibility study for energy storage and solar energy in Lipari (FESOL) is a project supported by NESOI European Islands Facility, managed by our partners from SINLOC, and promoted by The Green Consulting Group.

What is FESOL?

FESOL is a feasibility study for the replacement of the existing PV plant present in Lipari, which is in a deteriorating state, by a new solar PV plant including storage, management and control modulation system. The aim is to achieve a high level of energy independence from fossil fuels for the entire island, thanks to the supply of clean energy for water desalination, public lighting and buildings power consumption.

Lipari was selected, among Greening the Islands members, since it had an area suitable for a photovoltaic system of interesting size (4 MW) compared to those available on other Italian islands. A smaller plant already existed on the site so the proposed works would be an expansion. The plant will be able to produce 30% of the island's energy needs.

FESOL will have a significant impact on the whole Lipari island with economic savings, pollution reduction, decarbonization of the island, creation of qualified green jobs, improvement of the power grid. The implemented project will also have a spillover effect on the entire Aeolian archipelago and other Mediterranean islands, inspiring and urging them to implement similar solutions.

The project should be well accepted by the community first of all for its environmental impacts (renewable energy production, reducing risk related to oil, reducing pollution) as well for its social impacts (reducing energy cost, creating local green jobs, requalification of a degraded area). Various authorities/stakeholders will be involved as well as local people in the process.

FESOL: Upgrading an old solar plant

Lipari has one of the largest PV power plant currently present in the Mediterranean smaller islands. However, this PV power plant has never been connected to the grid and it is in a deteriorating state. It has been built on about 3ha area property of the Municipality of Lipari while the surrounding area available for the installation of additional solar panels is of about 8 ha.

One of the purposes of the project is to put an end to the degradation of the area, evaluating the technical and financial feasibility in order to re-use this space for clean energy purposes. The main objective of the project is to achieve a high level of energy independence from fossil fuels for the entire island.

The project consists in the realization of a new solar PV plant of about 6 MWp together with an energy storage system and a management and control modulation system, in order to balance the production of energy with island’s demand, to cover with renewable energy a good share of the energy consumption of the island.

The project evaluates the reconversion of the existing 1.12 MWp PV plant covering 3 ha, in deterioration and not providing any energy, into one of about 2.5 MWp plant. This 2.5 MWp plant could supply 40% of the energy need of the island’s desalination plant and lead to a total renewable share for the island of about 29%.

Expected local grid benefits

The use of photovoltaic power coupled with an energy storage system will allow to reduce the peak power production from the thermal power plant. The excess energy can be diverted to the storage system to be used to enhance the grid’s flexibility, efficiency and stability, overall making it more reliable and resistant to disruption.

How does NESOI Support this project?

The European Islands Facility (NESOI) aims to unlock the potential of EU islands to become the locomotives of the European Energy Transition. To do so, NESOI aims to mobilize more than €100 Million of investment in sustainable energy projects to give EU islands the opportunity to implement energy technologies and innovative approaches, in a cost-competitive way.

More specifically, NESOI has provided the following support:

• Assessment of the key project sizing drivers
• Identification of suitable technological options given existing project sizing requirements
• Definition of the required environmental permitting procedures
• Cost Benefit analysis and socio economic and environmental impact evaluation
• Definition of the technical, economic and financial, fiscal project inputs
• Risk analysis and identification of available mitigation strategies
• Assessment of existing procurement options (e.g. tender, PPP, etc.)
• Financial modelling and identification of target scenario
• Identification of financing/funding options
• Action plan and identification of project monitoring procedures
• Preliminary legal and administrative due diligence

READ MORE INFORMATION IN THE DEDICATED PROJECT BROCHURE