The Kythnos Microgrid: A 20-Year History

Abstract

The noninterconnected island of Kythnos (100 km <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> with 1,600 inhabitants) belongs to the complex of the Western Cyclades islands in Greece and is located in the Aegean Sea, 104 km from Athens. The island has a rich history in the adoption of sustainable energy applications, starting from the installation of the first wind farm in Europe [5 × 20-kW wind turbines (WTs)] by the Public Power Corporation (PPC) in 1982, followed in 1983 by the first hybrid station comprising a 100-kW photovoltaic (PV) system coupled with a 400-kWh battery storage, also by PPC. In 1989, the WTs were replaced by 5 × 33 kW (Figure 1), and in 1992, the PV inverters were upgraded.