Studies on the Electrification of the Transport Sector in the Island of Crete, Greece

Abstract

The possibility of electrifying the transport sector in Crete, Greece has been investigated. Currently the conventional vehicles in Crete consume annually 316,872 tons of gasoline and diesel oil emitting 1,030,188 tons of CO2. Electrification of the transport sector in Crete will result in a decrease of imported fossil fuels use and a reduction of CO2 emissions. It will also increase the use of locally available renewable energies in electricity generation. If all the existing conventional vehicles in Crete were to be replaced by electric vehicles, the annual electricity requirements in their batteries would be 1,092,568 to 1,311,077 MWh depending on the type of battery. The energy demand of the electric cars could be covered with electricity generated by renewable energies including solar and wind energy which are abundant in the island. The batteries of the electric cars could be used as electricity storage devices facilitating the penetration of intermittent renewable energies, with distributed generation systems, into the smart electric grid of Crete. It has been estimated that the aggregated theoretical storage capacity of all the batteries would be 6.33 GWh and that the size of the solar-PV plants and wind energy systems, generating all the electricity required by electric vehicles, would be 728 to 874 MWp and 445 to 534 MW respectively.