Battery technology company Saft has installed seven Flex’ion lithium-ion battery systems on the Italian island of Favignana (Sicily) to support a solar-powered microgrid.
Furthermore, on the island of Ustica, Saft will install its Flex’Ion batteries to support a microgrid powered by hydroelectric and solar plants, as well as diesel generation.
The batteries will be connected to the distribution network and integrated into a smart grid in the next few months, and are expected to be fully operational by the end of this year.
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These installations are part of the Sustainable energy generation and distribution in the smaller Islands (I-SOLE) project. The initiative aims to develop innovative technical solutions for the monitoring and control of power generation and distribution, as well as to increase the use of renewables and storage systems on small Sicilian islands.
I-Sole is supported financially by the European Union and the Region of Sicily and is being led by local power electronics company Layer Electronics. It involves local utilities as well as the University of Palermo and the Italian National Research Council.
Antonino Culcasi, managing director of Layer Electronics, said: “I-Sole will allow small, non-interconnected islands such as Ustica and Favignana to rely less on their current diesel power plants, especially during peak demand thanks to batteries and smart grids.”
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According to Saft, the modular Flex’Ion batteries will be maintenance-free, and will assist the islands to reduce diesel consumption and the associated emissions, while ensuring necessary grid stability.
Mauro Fassina, general manager for Saft in Italy, said: “Remote Italian islands like Ustica or Favignana can’t rely on the mainland for their power supply and still they aim to reduce carbon emissions by integrating more renewables into the grid. Sending technical people to those islands for maintenance purposes is not a simple task. The technical characteristics of these projects such as load profile or voltage were quite distinct and could have required different and customised solutions.”
Flex’ion batteries are assembled in Saft’s Raskovice factory in the Czech Republic, using lithium-ion cells manufactured in its Nersac factory in France.
Energy transition on small islands
Historically, islands heavily relied on fossil fuels and energy imports, which led to high electricity prices. In order to become less dependent on imports and lower the price of power, islands are increasingly switching to renewable energy generation and turning to multifaceted, hybrid approaches combatting the challenge of isolated grids.
According to the European Commission, the ways in which islands can make changes to transform their energy landscapes are nearly as diverse as the islands themselves.
In order to aid this transformation, the European Parliament and the European Commission set up the Clean energy for EU islands secretariat in 2018 to help citizens, local authorities, businesses and academic institutions collaborate to advance the clean energy transition on their island.
