Technoeconomic analysis of green energy transitions in isolated grids: The case of Ai Stratis-Green Island

The non-interconnected islands in Greece are electrified primarily with diesel generators. According to the Greek National Energy and Climate Plan, several islands that are not scheduled to connect to the mainland grid will be converted into green energy islands. A flagship green energy transition project is on the island of Agios Efstratios with the project "Ai Stratis - Green Island". This study modelled the proposed design of the public call (Scenario 1) with the software HOMER Pro and compared it with two other designs in respect to RES penetration missions and economics. The proposed design of the public call projected excellent performance in respect to RES penetration with 82.8%. This study proposed Scenario 2 that was significantly less expensive than the public call, with an initial investment of euro 1.45M vs euro 3.00M of the public call. In addition, Scenario 2 had an LCOE of 0.149 euro /kWh in comparison to the LCOE of 0.271 euro /kWh for Scenario 1 and the sensitivity analysis showed that the LCOE of Scenario 2 has very small fluctuations. This study can provide a blueprint for the expansion of green energy transition projects since the lower cost of the initial installation may allow more projects to be implemented. (c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.