News & events

Borkum, April 1-2 — The ISLANDER project partners gathered in Borkum for their bi-annual consortium meeting. Hosted by Borkum Nordseeheilbad, the meeting served as a platform to update partners on the progress of various work packages and discuss open issues. This was particularly important in view of the upcoming milestone in finalization of the demonstration technologies installations. Learn more!

On the German island of Borkum, citizens are driving the energy transition by founding their own cooperative—Energiewelle Borkum —with support from the EU-funded ISLANDER project. On March 8, 2025, the founding assembly of the energy cooperative Energiewelle Borkum eG marked a major milestone in Borkum’s citizen-led energy transition. Learn more!

ISLANDER is inviting you to our pilot island of Borkum! On the 2nd of April, participants will have the chance to explore the innovative energy technologies and solutions in person. The site visit will take participants to see the various pilot installations, advanced energy storage systems and smart energy management platform being implemented towards Borkum's energy transition. Spaces available.

The ISLANDER project has started the testing phase of its Smart IT Platform (SITP). Designed by project coordinator AYESA to optimise and digitise energy networks, the platform is a key step in transforming energy management on the German island of Borkum, the project's pilot site.

Climate change affects us all and increasingly requires concrete measures to mitigate the serious consequences. Islands in particular are affected by the impacts, such as rising sea levels and the increased risk of flooding as well as an increase in extreme weather events. The European project ISLANDER has therefore set itself the goal of supporting islands on their way to CO2 neutrality. As a pilot island in the project, the North Sea island of Borkum is also aiming to become climate-neutral in just a few years. While the island is testing new technologies and smart grid installations as part of the project in order to make the island’s energy system sustainable, another part of the project aims to establish an energy community that actively involves the citizens of Borkum in the energy transition.

ISLANDER was represented by our project partner DAFNI-Network during a Replication Board Webinar on 18 September 2024 hosted by the MAESHA project. Watch the recording of the webinar and get insights about a wide range of solutions for decarbonising energy systems and the concrete tools to support the large-scale replication of these innovations developed by European projects.

The ISLANDER project is helping to establish an energy community on the island of Borkum, empowering local citizens to actively participate in the island's energy transition. Initial workshops introduced the concept and benefits of an energy community, and sparked interest among residents. Following these workshops, a small group of committed citizens began to develop initial project ideas. Read more about the progress.

In Borkum, the ISLANDER project is installing lithium-ion storage systems to make more efficient use of renewable energy. In an interview, Begoña Gomez, project manager at Cegasa, explains how this technology is contributing to the island's energy transition and helping Borkum to become carbon neutral.

Borkum, May, 2024 – The 87th issue of BURKANA magazine dedicates two double pages to the ISLANDER project and the upcoming establishment of an energy community in Borkum (Germany). Please note: The magazine is only available in German language.

Vitoria-Gasteiz, March 4-5, 2024 – At the beginning of March, the ISLANDER project partners gathered in Vitoria-Gasteiz for their bi-annual consortium meeting. Hosted by project partner Cegasa, the meeting served as a platform to update partners on the progress of the different work packages and to discuss open issues. This was particularly important in view of the upcoming milestones, the completion of the installations on Borkum.

With the successful hosting of the second Citizen Engagement Workshop on 10 February 2024, the ISLANDER project supports the citizens of Borkum in their participation in the energy transition of the island. The aim of the workshop was to lay the foundations for the establishment of an energy community on the island.

Brussels, 9th January 2024 - The latest technical review meeting of the ISLANDER project, held in Brussels, highlighted important milestones in the project's journey and provided a comprehensive overview of the project's progress during the reporting period from April 2022 to September 2023.

In this interview we talk to Ina Herchenröder from our project partner NBG in Borkum. Find out more about her tasks relating to the implementation of the project on the pilot island of Borkum in all project-related matters.

In this joint document ten H2020 projects aimed at decarbonising islands raise awareness around challenges and opportunities in the replication of islands decarbonisation initiatives, as well as provide relevant regulatory, socioeconomic, and technical recommendations.

The ISLANDER project has reached a significant milestone with the initiation of the installation phase on the island of Borkum this August. This marks a notable step forward in the project's efforts to introduce advanced energy solutions, contributing to the decarbonisation of the island.

At the end of July project partner elmy published two deliverables, focusing on forecasting the individual energy demand and renewable supply generation of Borkum’s end-users. These deliverables complement the improved multi-scale forecasting methodology, that is established in the ISLANDER project.

Introducing Alfredo Gonzalez Naranjo from AYESA, the project coordinator of the ISLANDER project. Gain insights into his perspective on the project's primary challenges and objectives. Furthermore, Alfredo provides a comprehensive update on the project's current advancements and outlines the forthcoming steps

Behavioural researcher Sarah Delcourt discusses her work in the ISLANDER project and her choice to focus on renewable energy. She also shares her experiences regarding gender diversity in the field.

In this interview Ismini Moustafelou from DAFNI talks about her work in the ISLANDER project, why she chose to work in the field of renewable energy and about her experience regarding gender diversity.

From the 29th to 30th of March, the ISLANDER partners met in the beautiful city of Leuven, Belgium for their General Assembly in Month 30 of the project. The meeting was organised by project partners KU Leuven and elmy.

In this interview Elodie Courtois from elmy talks about her work in the ISLANDER project, why she chose to work in the field of renewable energy and about her experience regarding gender diversity.

From 14 November to 16 November 2022, the first face-to-face General Assembly of the ISLANDER project took place. The project partners used the time to discuss the progress of the different work packages, open questions, blocking points and the next steps of the project.

The ISLANDER project was part of the Sustainable Places 2022 workshop on European Actions Towards Geographic Islands Decarbonisation together with 7 other H2020 funded projects. In two interactive sessions the participants discussed funding possibilities and innovation aspects for decarbonising islands.

Within the ISLANDER project an improved multi-scale forecasting methodology will be established. This is of central importance for the development of grid management algorithms running the smart IT platform.

What has been happening in the first 16 months of the project? Here we give you a brief overview of some exciting progress that has been accomplished.

One of the main pillars of the ISLANDER project is its replication strategy. It entails 3 steps and aims at fostering the replication and upscaling of innovative Smart Grid solutions in EU islands.