Renewable energy sources promotion and integration for the sustainable development of insular regions of Europe: the RESPIRE project

Sustainable development is an essential target of many islands throughout the world, especially in Europe. One of the requirements for achieving this goal is the reduction of the use of fossil resources: among various possible options a much larger integration of photovoltaic and hybrid systems in the overall energy balance of the islands is desirable. Under these circumstances, the RESPIRE project co-funded by the European commission in the framework of the fifth framework programme, is a global strategic initiative taken at the level of 7 European countries in order to promote the achievement of 100% of RES in the electricity consumption of the insular territories of the Union. Preliminary enquiries carried out by the consortium show that the current share of RES within the 5 islands of the project is approx. 15%. The purpose of the project is to increase this ratio to almost 45% in 3 years, in order to reach a critical threshold and to provide the guidance demonstrating the feasibility of the 100% target, in the near future.