Aspects of Clean Energy Transition in the Island of Crete, Greece

Clean energy transition in islands is of paramount importance for climate change mitigation. Various aspects in de-carbonization of the island of Crete, Greece have been investigated in order to examine the difficulties in replacing fossil fuels with benign energy resources in energy generation and in transportation. De-carbonization in different socio-economic sectors in Crete has been studied in order to find out the feasibility of de-carbonizing them as well as the sustainable energy technologies that can be used for achieving that. The results indicated that the sectors of electricity generation and heat and cooling production can be de-carbonized rather easily in the short to medium term using the abundant renewable energies in Crete. Transportation inside the island can be de-carbonized in the medium to long-term replacing the old conventional vehicles with new electric vehicles. More difficult is the de-carbonization in the transportation to and from Crete, via aircrafts and ships, since the required technologies are not mature and reliable yet while the necessary fuels are not produced in large scale in a cost-efficient way. De-carbonization in this sector can be achieved only in long-term while various technological breakthroughs are required for that. It is concluded that the clean energy transition in Crete is technically and economically feasible in some sectors while in others could be achievable only in the long-term supported by new technological developments.  The results could be useful to policy makers for the creation and realization of a clean energy transition plan in the island of Crete that is necessary for complying with the EU target for carbon neutrality in the continent by 2050