The Faroe Islands are becoming a model for the future of energy, including renewables and electric vehicles (EVs).
If you want to explore a mini cosmos of what the future of energy looks like, cast your eyes toward the North Atlantic. Here, the Faroe Islands are taking a broad approach to renewables, looking to harness wind, hydro, and tidal energies. This ensures these green sources are efficiently integrated into the daily lives of the 54,500 inhabitants spread across 17 inhabited islands. A central part of those daily lives is commuting and transportation.
EV numbers are surging throughout the islands, becoming the transportation vehicle of choice. This creates many new opportunities to leverage renewable energy but can also present challenges. For example, renewable energy production tends to vary more than fossil fuel energy production. Ensuring that EVs help the islands use as much green energy as possible, is a central priority to make the future as green as possible.
Here, True Energy’s innovative smart charging solutions optimise EV charging times to coincide with peak renewable energy production, reducing grid congestion and enhancing energy utilisation while opening new avenues for peak load balancing and peak load shaving.
The Faroe Islands’ ambitious energy goals
It is a testament to how the Faroe Islands and its sole energy provider SEV are thinking holistically about innovation and intelligently managing energy production and use through activating EVs, heat pumps, and electric vehicle fleets as parts of the island’s energy strategy.
The ambitious energy goals in the islands’ comprehensive strategy include becoming 100% reliant on renewable energy by 2030 and carbon neutral by 2050, setting a global benchmark for intelligent grid optimisation and renewable energy leadership. This will include significant development of renewable energy production, such as expanding wind farms and exploring the potential of tidal energy to meet a growing demand. In 2022, the islands produced a total of 434 GWh, with roughly half of that coming from renewables. The strategy is bolstered by SEV’s commitment to developing an innovative, flexible grid that can accommodate the variable nature of renewable energy and the demands of a growing EV fleet.
One of the most compelling aspects of this initiative is the emphasis on demand-side flexibility. By leveraging True Energy’s technology, the islands can manage energy consumption more effectively. This ensures that renewable resources are utilised optimally and that EVs contribute to, rather than strain, the local grid infrastructure. This approach enhances the sustainability of energy systems. This sets a precedent for how communities worldwide can integrate EVs into renewable energy ecosystems.
The Faroe Islands and the future of energy
The project, and the collaboration between the Faroe Islands, True Energy, Landis+Gyr, and SEV, point toward huge potential upsides and provide a glimpse of the future of energy.
One example is the innovative exploration of tidal energy, where hydrodynamic wings equipped with power generators are deployed in waters with large tides. The power generated on board the wings is transferred via power cables in the tether to onshore control stations and energy storage facilities, or directly into the energy grid. While the project is still in the early phases, the Faroe Islands see a potential of around 200MW of tidal power in the waters around its islands, which is roughly equal to its current installed power base.
Another area where the project and collaboration point to things to come is the future of local grids, microgrids, closed grids, and island grids. The Faroe Islands’ integrated approach and innovation have broad use cases for all these types of grids, all of which will play central parts in our future energy production and use. It opens the doors for future technology export opportunities for the project participants.
The collaboration between True Energy, Landis+Gyr, and SEV also highlights the importance of innovative partnerships in achieving sustainability goals. The partnership is driving rapid advancements in renewable energy integration and smart grid technologies. This is by combining expertise in innovative energy solutions with a deep understanding of local energy needs and resources.
As the Faroe Islands continue on their journey to a renewable energy future, the role of EVs and smart charging infrastructure will keep growing.
True Energy’s and SEV’s efforts to integrate these elements into the islands’ energy ecosystem exemplify how thoughtful, technology-driven strategies can transform local energy landscapes. This paving the way for a more sustainable and efficient future powered by renewables.