ROBINSON – Smart integRation Of local energy sources and innovative storage for flexiBle, secure and cost-efficIent eNergy Supply ON industrialized islands

ROBINSON’s main mission is to develop an integrated energy system tailored to islands with industrial activities coupling locally available energy sources, electrical and thermal networks and innovative storage technologies, and to demonstrate it on the island of Eigerøy, Norway. In order to achieve the target, innovative technologies will be developed, integrated on the island and managed by a novel energy management system (EMS).

The system will integrate renewable electricity and non-electrical resources such as wind turbines, PV panels, biomass gasification, wastewater valorization and industrial symbiosis in terms of heat and oxygen reuse. The increased availability of RES and the produced green hydrogen will also be investigated for other applications such as electrification of ship cargo loading/unloading and road transport. The EMS will ensure an efficient and smart integration of all distributed energy resources and storage capacities available on the island, while considering demand-side response, power balancing, weather forecast and market-related costs. Such integrated system will ensure a reliable, cost-efficient, environmentally friendly and resilient energy supply contributing to the decarbonization of the European Islands phasing out the fossil fuels and hence decreasing GHG emissions. Active involvement of local communities and other stakeholders will be ensured throughout the system transition. The concept will be replicated on two follower islands, Crete (Greece) and Western Isles (Scotland).

The Technology Assessment Group is contributing by evaluating costs and environmental impacts of different energy system designs based on the locally available renewable resources, and the local demand patterns. To this end, we apply economic and environmental Life Cycle Assessment on all three Islands. Our goal is to develop a flexible and user-friendly design tool for evaluation and optimization of energy systems on islands, which will facilitate finding cost-effective and environmentally friendly energy solutions given a wide range of boundary conditions.