It is seven in the morning and the remote Greek island of Astypalea dawns with absolute calm. The sea, like a raft, and the mountains, punished by the wind and the sun, give this place an indisputable beauty. The mayor, Nikolaos Komineas, who has woken up early and drives, without a helmet, an electric motorbike of the Seat Mó brand circulates on the only road on the island. Astypalea does not live outside of time, despite its geographical isolation and the aging of its population, which is dedicated to fishing, honey production and tourism that flees from overcrowding.
For two years, this small island – inhabited by just 1,300 people – has become a laboratory for the Greek Government dedicated to energy sovereignty and sustainable mobility. The project is ambitious because it counts as a collaborator with Volkswagen, which facilitates the fleet of electric vehicles; the University of the Aegean, which carries out sociological research; PPC, the largest Greek electricity company (privatized after the financial crisis); Alpha Bank, and other local firms. All of them work together with the aim of ensuring that Astipalea is capable of electrifying the entire fleet of vehicles and producing its energy in a renewable way, since now it mainly does so by burning diesel.
When the promoters presented the project to the population two years ago, they met with considerable rejection. There was fear of an Astypalea populated with windmills that would spoil the beauty of the landscape and that the project would capture the interest of more and more tourists (now there are 36,000 a year and, despite the fact that houses are being built, growth is not expected at big scale).
However, two years later, “the project enjoys widespread acceptance and is conceived as a tool for progress towards sustainability, both for the local population and for tourists,” says Chrissi Vitsilaki, rector of the University of the Aegean.
Among the most significant advances, the installation of three small photovoltaic parks and a project to build a larger photovoltaic park that will also be capable of storing energy stand out. This installation will entail the disbursement of 5 million euros and once it is up and running it will allow the energy consumption of the entire island to be 50% renewable in 2024 and 80% in 2026.
As for the fleet of vehicles, the island already has 84 electric vehicles out of the total of 450 that circulate throughout the island, which is around 18%. The majority are cars and a small part are motorcycles (10) and bikes (6). The irruption of these latest generation vehicles is explained by the fact that the Government has increased the subsidy for the purchase of an electric car –from 6,000 to 12,000 euros– to the residents of Astypalea. In addition, Volkswagen has won the competition for police force vehicles and ambulances.
The German car group has also started running an on-demand bus line, called Astibus, which has replaced the outdated municipal line. The service works through a mobile application developed by Giravolta, a Seat Code company that is based in Barcelona. Despite the fact that technology is state-of-the-art, the organization is now considering creating a telephone line to respond to older people who do not have technological skills.
For tourists, Volkswagen has also launched a pilot test of shared mobility services with offers of ID-3 cars, Seat Mó motorcycles and Ducati electric bikes. Maik Stephan, head of business development for the German group, says that the vehicles are rented by the hour and that this business is more profitable than the bus. Although he does not reveal figures, he assures that the companies subsidize around 30% of the entire initiative, which at the moment generates losses.
To all this, electric vehicles are already supplied with solar energy produced on the island through 20 charging points of the Barcelona startup Wallbox. As Mayor Komineas said in a speech to the press, only the correct use of technology can help preserve the landscape and lifestyle that characterizes this remote island in the Dodecanese archipelago.
