Sustainable Islands Texel Conference a success
Last Thursday, 70 people gathered at the StayOkay in Den Burg (Texel) to discuss how islands like Texel can make their energy supply more sustainable. Delegates from the Portuguese island of Madeira, the Scottish archipelago of Orkney, and the Danish island of Samsø came to Texel to exchange best practices with experts from the Wadden Sea region and the North Holland region, working together to create a future for sustainable islands.
This workshop was part of the three-day conference of the European SMILE projectThirty delegates from Madeira, Orkney, and Samsø came to Texel for the public part of the conference. In addition, 40 Dutch people were present. Although Texel is not officially part of the SMILE project, we, together with Sustainable Alliance Texel successfully lobbied to bring the event to Texel.
Major energy ambitions for Texel
Alderman Vlaming opened the meeting with a speech about Texel's ambitious ambitions as a sustainable island and the challenges that come with it. Our colleague Mark de la Vieter then summarized, on behalf of SMILE, what the various islands have to offer each other. Pepijn Lijklema of Texlabs then presented Texel's energy challenges by providing a visual overview of Texel's energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The delegates and participating companies from Madeira, Orkney, and Samsø then had the opportunity to present their ideas for making Texel more self-sufficient, based on their own practical experience.
We're thrilled to have demonstrated the techniques and concepts developed in SMILE on Texel. We hope this will quickly help Texel become a leader in the energy transition.
- Mark de la Vieter, Team Manager Innovation and Energy Hub expert
Dissemination of knowledge for sustainable islands
This stakeholder workshop on Texel is a key part of disseminating knowledge gained through the SMILE project, which is developing new techniques for making islands more sustainable. The focus is on both the technology itself and community involvement. This ensures that the SMILE results are made available as quickly as possible to help transform other islands into sustainable islands. New Energy Coalition This project aims to ensure communication and knowledge sharing are as broad and effective as possible. We are also exploring a follow-up project together with the project partners.
Energy game Round Texel
In the afternoon, there were interactive workshops and brainstorming sessions on collaboration, local energy generation, and a smarter balance between energy consumption and generation. The results will be developed and shared with the participants. After the sessions, groups of six played the energy game "Rondje Texel." This educational board game is a simulation in which six stakeholders must help Texel with the energy transition by utilizing all the different energy generation methods within ten rounds. The game was specially designed for Texel. The day concluded with a large networking dinner.
It was interesting to hear that participants from the other islands immediately saw the similarities between what can go wrong during the game and what actually goes wrong on their islands. The various islands expressed their interest in exploring the extent to which the game can be used on their islands as well.
- Pepijn Lijklema, director of Texlabs
About SMILE
The EU project SMILE is demonstrating nine different smart grid technologies on the islands of Madeira, Orkney, and Samsø. Stakeholder engagement is a key element.
