In this edition of the EU islands newsletter, we want to shine a light on our Energy Academies. Through the Energy Academies, we provide in-depth capacity-building support to island communities and help foster a dialogue between stakeholders at the local, regional and even national levels.

REScoop.eu, the European Federation of Energy Cooperatives, is organising these Energy Academies in close collaboration with our regional experts and other key organisations at the national and local levels.

Looking back over a year of confinement, we have not stood still. We have organised Energy Academies in Croatia, Greece, Spain, and Portugal. Additionally, we have had the first online session of our Academies in Cyprus and Estonia to prepare the ground for the physical sessions that will take place in the coming period.

The interest and the commitment of the island communities and island experts to transition to clean energy that benefits people and the climate is high. COVID-19 did not break the communities’ drive to come together to exchange about energy projects or to turn their project ideas into reality. And those of them, who could not join us in person, still stayed in front of their screens for hours - yet not silent. They raised their questions, their comments and expressed directly their wish to connect with some of our speakers to develop their projects further.

We know that the energy communities are already conscious of the necessary shift, and we provide them with the knowledge, tools and connections that can help them make a socially and environmentally just energy transition happen.

Looking forward, we are excited to continue our work meeting in person with more island communities over the coming months and on 17-18 May 2022 at Clean energy for EU islands Forum 2022 on Rhodes. Come and join us!

All the best,

Your EU islands team

Anna knows the captain. The captain lady introduces more advantages of electric boats to Anna and Sophie. You don’t have any STACK WITH THE EXHAUST. It’s cleaner and quieter so you can have a more enjoyable time. Electric ferry means they run on batteries and have a diesel motor as a backup. So the batteries power an electric motor that turns the propeller and that is how we propel the boat. Electric motors have been in submarines since 1890. Yet maritime transport still emits over 900 million tons of CO2 annually. It is responsible for about 2.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Anna’s island has started the electrification with all the small ferries that had to be replaced in a short term. So in the other words, they decided that if they need new ferries, they would have to be 100% electric. Their design had to be the same as the diesel ones, so they would fit in the existing bow and stern doors. Now it is all compatible and the transition happens overnight (testing happens at night so the day time-table remains uninterrupted). Now that we have gotten used to it, it seems simple and logical. We can see everything on one screen. You don’t need to go to the engine room and check things. You keep an eye on the battery level, but you also get notifications if it’s approaching the minimum. Charging is easy and fast, it takes about 7 minutes.

And then Sophie asks what would the old sea captain say about electric ferries.
“He would say… What took so long?"