Froan Islands are one of four locations around Europe where hybrid power-to-power storage systems are tested. The archipelago of the Froan Islands is located 30 kilometers from the shore of Norway. And only a few of the many islands are inhabited. There are about 40 people living on the islands and they have access to Trondheim and Frøya by boat.

The archipelago is a demonstration site of the EU-funded project REMOTE. The abbreviation REMOTE stands for Remote area Energy supply with Multiple Options for integrated hydrogen-based Technologies. REMOTE aims to install and test four hybrid power-to-power storage systems in four isolated, off-grid, or microgrid locations in Europe. In the case of Froan Islands’s, it is a micro-grid application.

Renewable energy there is based on a hybrid system with photovoltaic and wind generators. The substitution of fossil fuels is almost complete with a higher than 95% share of renewables. Additional costs for new submarine power line are thus avoided. The end-user is Trønder Energi and residential loads are available.

REMOTE is led by the Italian university Politecnico di Torino and partnered by stakeholders from Norway (Tronderenergi and SINTEF), Denmark (Ballard Power Systems Europe from Denmark), Belgium (Hydrogenics Europe), France (Powidian), Italy (Enel Green Power, IRIS, EPS ELVI Energy) and Greece (Orizwn Anonymh Techniki Etaireia, Ethniko Kentro Erevnas Kai Technologikis Anaptyxis). The project has received 4.99 million EUR from the EU Horizon2020 program and will run from 2018 to 2022. And it will also study the South-Italian island Stromboli, the mountain village of Ambornetti in North Italy, the Greek village Agkistro, and the Froan islands on the coast of Norway.

Keywords: storage, hydrogen, hybrid systems, renewable, wind, photovoltaic, EU, Horizon2020, Froan, Norway