A Multidisciplinary Approach for an Effective and Rational Energy Transition in Crete Island, Greece

This article proposes a mixture of actions for the development of an effective and rational energy transition plan for all sectors and for all types of onshore final energy use in Crete. Energy transition is initiated with an appropriate capacity building campaign. The plan is based on the introduction of energy saving measures and the exploitation of all the locally available energy resources (wind, solar, geothermal potential, biomass), integrated in a cluster of centralized and decentralized power plants and smart grids to produce electricity and heat and for the transition to e-mobility. The core of the energy transition in Crete will be a set of 14 wind parks and Pumped Hydro Storage systems (PHS) for electricity generation and 12 Combined Heat and Power plants, properly designed and dispersed in the insular territory. Economic analysis is executed for the proposed essential power plants on the island. Biomass, solar and geothermal potential can cover the heating demand in Crete several times. Heat can be produced with a specific cost of 0.05 EUR/kWh(th) from cogeneration plants fired with solid biomass and biogas. The wind parks-PHS systems exhibit payback periods of approximately 10 years with a final electricity selling price at 0.12 EUR/kWh(el). The article shows that 100% energy transition in Crete constitutes a feasible target.