About the project
The main objective of the project is to develop and apply a multi-criteria Renewable Energy STORage (RESTOR) planning model for islands to support their decision-making for their energy system transformation. Secondary objectives include: the application of the RESTOR model to four Pilots (Sweden, Ireland, France, Brazil) and the comparative analysis of the results; the RESTOR model validation, replication and scaling of the process to the Follower islands (Greece, Fiji, Brazil); the summing up of the overall lessons learned and knowledge sharing; the development of policy issues, business models and recommendations.
RESTOR would extend the current state of the art to explicitly take into account the perspectives of the regional stakeholders and the viewpoints of the end users and energy system operators when deciding which alternative storage projects would complement specific configurations of RES production for islands under real conditions. It will provide decision support for DMs and explicit consideration of their preferences through the weighting of the evaluation criteria but also developing alternatives, establishing these criteria and determining MCDA methods’ parameters like indifference, preference and veto thresholds. In that way the best available energy storage could be identified, planned and operationalized for islandic autonomous and semi-autonomous energy systems, according to regional needs and stakeholders’ inclinations.
RESTOR expected results include: a collection of available technology configurations/portfolio of electricity storage projects that are appropriate to complement the existing and future electricity grid of the islands; a participatory MCDA model for guiding energy storage system innovations; a set of national (Ireland, Sweden, France) and EU-relevant Policy recommendations, policy guidance and tailor-made business models. The impact of the project will be developed on several different levels, including (i) progress towards decarbonisation and increased awareness of sustainable energy transition for the Aran, Gotland, La Réunion islands (ii) advancement of the understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of alternative energy storage technologies of the present and future and (iii) the formation of a multiplication hub for other islands in the EU and beyond through the replication and scaling-up of key parameters.