Energy sources on Crete

Crete lies on the Eastern Mediterranean at the south end of Aegean Sea above the Libyan Sea, Figure 1. It’s the largest island of Greece and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean Sea. Heraklion is the capital and the largest, among the six cities, of Crete, with nearly 180,000 population. The population of Crete is almost 700,000 citizens and there are over 4,000,000 visitors every year, most during the summer. Crete is energy autonomous, producing and distributing its own energy. The electricity is produced mostly from fossil fuel combustion with a share of wind and solar energy, (Anon., 2018). Crete is a special energy case due to its geopolitical characteristics (location, size, development, large renewable potentials) but recently also because of the Euroasia intercontinental grid connection that is planned to be ready for commissioning in 2021 (1st Stage, more information in Section 2).

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Energy Strategy of Crete: Potential Expansion of Renewable Systems with Interconnection Author: Nikolaos Marinos