Periodic Reporting for period 3 - European Islands Facility NESOI (New Energy Solutions Optimized for Islands)
Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2024-02-29
EU makes available funds to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy projects to meet its objectives of decarbonization. Many islands are in the front line of energy transition; however, most of them haven’t the expertise to concretely launch investments, access to finance and kick start the projects.
The EU Islands Facility NESOI aimed at filling this gap through a hands-on approach, unlocking the potential of EU islands to become the locomotives of European Energy Transition, mainstreaming green energy investments to an audience of more than 2.200 inhabited EU islands and giving the opportunity to implement their innovative energy technologies and approaches in a cost-competitive way.
Starting with a broad survey gathering EU islands’ needs, NESOI provides islands with both indirect and direct support:
1) a digital platform, a one-stop-shop for islands where to find ideas and effective organisational, technical and financial instruments for the whole value chain of a project and a cooperative space for project promoters, investors and technology providers;
2) a cascade mechanism based on transparent technical, social, economic and environmental criteria, to identify a short list of projects for customised technical assistance from consortium experts and external advisors.
Through two open calls for proposals, NESOI selected 54 initiatives, involving 70 islands in 12 different countries to receive technical assistance and bring their project ideas and plans a step forward toward concrete deployment.
Overall, 567 M€ of investment have been mobilized and local authorities committed to their implementation. In addition, 88 M€ of funding have been already secured thank to the assistance received.
Initiative will contribute to European decarbonisation targets by avoiding 442 ktCO2/yr GHG emissions.
The EU Islands Facility NESOI aimed at filling this gap through a hands-on approach, unlocking the potential of EU islands to become the locomotives of European Energy Transition, mainstreaming green energy investments to an audience of more than 2.200 inhabited EU islands and giving the opportunity to implement their innovative energy technologies and approaches in a cost-competitive way.
Starting with a broad survey gathering EU islands’ needs, NESOI provides islands with both indirect and direct support:
1) a digital platform, a one-stop-shop for islands where to find ideas and effective organisational, technical and financial instruments for the whole value chain of a project and a cooperative space for project promoters, investors and technology providers;
2) a cascade mechanism based on transparent technical, social, economic and environmental criteria, to identify a short list of projects for customised technical assistance from consortium experts and external advisors.
Through two open calls for proposals, NESOI selected 54 initiatives, involving 70 islands in 12 different countries to receive technical assistance and bring their project ideas and plans a step forward toward concrete deployment.
Overall, 567 M€ of investment have been mobilized and local authorities committed to their implementation. In addition, 88 M€ of funding have been already secured thank to the assistance received.
Initiative will contribute to European decarbonisation targets by avoiding 442 ktCO2/yr GHG emissions.
With the conclusion of the project on 29th February 2024, all the activities foreseen by the workplan have been concluded.
The results include:
- Development of NESOI’s digital platform. The platform is a central hub for connecting promoters, local authorities, technology experts, and financial providers. Whether a stakeholder is seeking advice, searching for partners, or scouting for financial and technical solutions, the NESOI platform is the one-stop destination.
With over 500 registered users, it focuses on matching investors, technology providers, and experts with projects that align with their interests and goals. Currently, there are 105 projects showcased, offering a diverse array of opportunities for collaboration and investment. In addition, the platform also serves as a gateway for publishing crowdfunding campaigns, enabling stakeholders to widen their project's reach and attract support from a broader audience. Furthermore, the platform provides personalized recommendations of training content available online, empowering the online audience to enhance their skills and expertise in relevant domains.
- 54 initiatives benefitting from NESOI customized technical assistance and financial support. More than 70 islands in 12 countries were selected and could receive dedicated support to develop their project plans and investments. More than 3 Mln € of cascade funding have been allocated to islands.
- Beyond the technical assistance, supported initiatives were brought to the attention of public and private financial institutions over Europe. This has allowed to activate a total of 88 Mln € funds from different sources (EU, national, regional, private or public) and to mobilize 567 Mln € of investments.
- Technical assistance was also supplemented by longer-term coaching activities to ensure that NESOI beneficiaries have increased capacity for developing investible energy transition projects. Four activities were conducted in parallel:
1) Individual coaching, as a direct follow-up of the technical assistance activities, with individual contacts regularly established with each of the beneficiaries of the 54 projects supported by NESOI. This activity culminated with individual e-learning programmes communicated to each NESOI beneficiary, tailored to their needs identified through individual interviews.
2) The organisation of 5 collective webinars, allowing relevant topics to be discussed and shared amongst the beneficiaries of the projects supported by NESOI. Topics were: energy planning, e-mobility, renewable energy sources, energy communities, and hydrogen.
3) The elaboration of e-learning material consisting in informational and educational content made available on the NESOI platform
3) The ERASMUS programme, consisting in 3 short study tours (SST) conducted with guests selected amongst NESOI beneficiaries and hosted by island organisations with a track record in energy transition projects: SST1 in Astipalaia (Greece), hosted by Dafni and Astipalaia Municipality, on Energy Community and RES installations; SST2 in Sicily (Italy), hosted by the Port Authority of Messina, ENEA and CNR, on Clean ports and boats; and SST3 in the Orkney Islands (UK), hosted by EMEC and PlusZero, on Green H2 and marine renewable energy.
- a Guidebook for replication has been published (in 6 languages) to facilitate replication across EU islands
- the consortium actively participated in communication and dissemination events, contributing to knowledge and best practice sharing. More than 95 events were attended. Social media channels have been exploited and a community of over 123k individuals reached.
- NESOI consortium defined its exploitation strategy, which will result in an Alliance living beyond the project lifetime. Also, the CEN Workshop Agreement process to standardize the methodology designed by Nesoi has been started.
The results include:
- Development of NESOI’s digital platform. The platform is a central hub for connecting promoters, local authorities, technology experts, and financial providers. Whether a stakeholder is seeking advice, searching for partners, or scouting for financial and technical solutions, the NESOI platform is the one-stop destination.
With over 500 registered users, it focuses on matching investors, technology providers, and experts with projects that align with their interests and goals. Currently, there are 105 projects showcased, offering a diverse array of opportunities for collaboration and investment. In addition, the platform also serves as a gateway for publishing crowdfunding campaigns, enabling stakeholders to widen their project's reach and attract support from a broader audience. Furthermore, the platform provides personalized recommendations of training content available online, empowering the online audience to enhance their skills and expertise in relevant domains.
- 54 initiatives benefitting from NESOI customized technical assistance and financial support. More than 70 islands in 12 countries were selected and could receive dedicated support to develop their project plans and investments. More than 3 Mln € of cascade funding have been allocated to islands.
- Beyond the technical assistance, supported initiatives were brought to the attention of public and private financial institutions over Europe. This has allowed to activate a total of 88 Mln € funds from different sources (EU, national, regional, private or public) and to mobilize 567 Mln € of investments.
- Technical assistance was also supplemented by longer-term coaching activities to ensure that NESOI beneficiaries have increased capacity for developing investible energy transition projects. Four activities were conducted in parallel:
1) Individual coaching, as a direct follow-up of the technical assistance activities, with individual contacts regularly established with each of the beneficiaries of the 54 projects supported by NESOI. This activity culminated with individual e-learning programmes communicated to each NESOI beneficiary, tailored to their needs identified through individual interviews.
2) The organisation of 5 collective webinars, allowing relevant topics to be discussed and shared amongst the beneficiaries of the projects supported by NESOI. Topics were: energy planning, e-mobility, renewable energy sources, energy communities, and hydrogen.
3) The elaboration of e-learning material consisting in informational and educational content made available on the NESOI platform
3) The ERASMUS programme, consisting in 3 short study tours (SST) conducted with guests selected amongst NESOI beneficiaries and hosted by island organisations with a track record in energy transition projects: SST1 in Astipalaia (Greece), hosted by Dafni and Astipalaia Municipality, on Energy Community and RES installations; SST2 in Sicily (Italy), hosted by the Port Authority of Messina, ENEA and CNR, on Clean ports and boats; and SST3 in the Orkney Islands (UK), hosted by EMEC and PlusZero, on Green H2 and marine renewable energy.
- a Guidebook for replication has been published (in 6 languages) to facilitate replication across EU islands
- the consortium actively participated in communication and dissemination events, contributing to knowledge and best practice sharing. More than 95 events were attended. Social media channels have been exploited and a community of over 123k individuals reached.
- NESOI consortium defined its exploitation strategy, which will result in an Alliance living beyond the project lifetime. Also, the CEN Workshop Agreement process to standardize the methodology designed by Nesoi has been started.
In RP3, the efforts of the NESOI consortium have been focused to achieve the following results:
• Full implementation and deployment of the NESOI platform
• Implementation of the projects selected in the second Call and deployment of the Technical Assistance
• Full allocation of the cascade funds to island beneficiaries
• Coaching activities for the islands’ staff, with special regard to the NESOI Erasmus for Islands (short study tours for energy managers of islands to have a deep dive into best practices)
• Improving dissemination and communication, and organization of the final conference
• Definition of the NESOI exploitation beyond the project duration
The main results achieved at the conclusion of NESOI has been:
• More than 70 EU islands directly supported by NESOI
• 88M€ of funds secured and 567 M€ mobilized, with the potential to activate up to >1B€ investments in energy transition
• improved capacity and skills of technicians, through training campaigns and 3 Erasmus Short Study Tours (24 selected beneficiaries took part in these)
• development of a digital platform available online, as a unique market place to make project promoter, investors and technology provider meet;
The impacts achieved at the end of the project are:
• Primary Energy Savings: 1021 GWh/yr
• GHG Emission savings: 442 tCO2/yr
• RES production: >22% island share
NESOI has also contributed to increase the quality of life on EU islands, promoting the reduction of local energy bills and enhancing local environment thanks to low carbon energy promotion and investments, lowering the de-population and migration from islands to mainland, guaranteeing the preservation of local communities and socio-economic-cultural heritage.
• Full implementation and deployment of the NESOI platform
• Implementation of the projects selected in the second Call and deployment of the Technical Assistance
• Full allocation of the cascade funds to island beneficiaries
• Coaching activities for the islands’ staff, with special regard to the NESOI Erasmus for Islands (short study tours for energy managers of islands to have a deep dive into best practices)
• Improving dissemination and communication, and organization of the final conference
• Definition of the NESOI exploitation beyond the project duration
The main results achieved at the conclusion of NESOI has been:
• More than 70 EU islands directly supported by NESOI
• 88M€ of funds secured and 567 M€ mobilized, with the potential to activate up to >1B€ investments in energy transition
• improved capacity and skills of technicians, through training campaigns and 3 Erasmus Short Study Tours (24 selected beneficiaries took part in these)
• development of a digital platform available online, as a unique market place to make project promoter, investors and technology provider meet;
The impacts achieved at the end of the project are:
• Primary Energy Savings: 1021 GWh/yr
• GHG Emission savings: 442 tCO2/yr
• RES production: >22% island share
NESOI has also contributed to increase the quality of life on EU islands, promoting the reduction of local energy bills and enhancing local environment thanks to low carbon energy promotion and investments, lowering the de-population and migration from islands to mainland, guaranteeing the preservation of local communities and socio-economic-cultural heritage.