A double distinction for Greece and the remote island of Tilos was won yesterday. The Greek project TILOS has earned in the European Energy Sustainability Awards, the “Energy Islands” award, which was judged by a panel of experts, and the “Audience Award” after an open vote among 12 European works. In fact, the participation in the public vote exceeded every precedent with almost double the number of entries since last year, while TILOS received half of the total votes!

The awards were given by the European Commissioner for Climate and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete at the EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW), the most important conference on sustainable energy policy.

The purpose of the TILOS project, which was launched on the Greek island of Tilos in February 2015 with a timeline for completion in early 2019, is to achieve maximum energy autonomy exclusively from renewable energy sources. In a few days (23-30 June), the project goes into its most important phase, as the installation of medium power wind turbine and photovoltaic park will be completed. By installing the batteries at the end of the summer, the completed system is expected to be tested.

The successful completion of the project will open a new era for island autonomy policies worldwide, as the technological solutions it proposes address the problems of interconnection and security of energy supply, promoting the energy autonomy of the islands and the disconnection from polluting and expensive oil.

The innovative system, which is being installed on the island, is hybrid, combining technologies of both generation of energy (wind turbine and photovoltaic park) as well as energy storage (batteries), and is the first of its kind in the Mediterranean and capable of exporting guaranteed energy to the grid of Kos.