Website: www.rerina.net

The RERINA (Integration of Renewable Energy Technologies in Rural Insular Areas) project objective is to address issues related to the development and operationalization of Sustainable Energy Plans (SEP) for islands and ecologically sensitive areas.

The RERINA project is the study and classification of the European Insular Areas in relation to their potential to implement Renewable Energy Sources (RES) applications.

The development and application of an integrated methodological approach supporting the development of Sustainable Energy Communities in islands and ecologically sensitive areas is a priority in order to support the increase of RES share in the energy mix and therefore, to support the implementation of several European initiatives and legislations on energy, environment and the sustainable development of the European Communities.

The project aims to facilitate:

• the development of a typology of the European Insular Areas which will facilitate researchers, policy makers, local planners and individuals to identify the requirements that alternative renewable energy technologies should meet in order to satisfy the needs of each specific insular area.
• the identification of best-practice and the transfer of know how on renewables' applications within different insular areas.

The approach developed within the project on Sustainable Energy Plans (SEP) development will be applied to three ecologically sensitive areas in three European islands: Cyprus, Crete, and Sardinia, which:

• have already substantial experience on RES development,
• have a magnificent natural environment with several ecologically sensitive and geographically isolated areas,
• have great seasonality on energy demand due to tourism,
• are not grid connected to the electricity network of the mainland, and
• have substantial RES potential.

Through these applications, the materials and actions identified for the development of a successful SEP, i.e. for the awareness, information and technical support of the local communities will be applied. Through these case studies the proposed approach for SEP development will be validated, while at the same time important information on potential problems, omissions and gaps on technological, research and policy issues will be identified.

RERINA is a Sustainable Energy for Europe Campaign Associate

The project is coordinated by the Technical University of Crete and supported by the Intelligent Energy - Europe Programme.