Imagine three islands — Orkney, Samsø, and Madeira — each trying to run mostly on wind and solar but struggling with blackouts when the sun disappears or the wind dies. SMILE turned these islands into living laboratories, testing batteries, smart heating, electric vehicles, and even electricity stored on boats to keep the lights on without burning diesel. Think of it like a giant backup system that juggles energy from dozens of sources so nothing goes to waste. The lessons learned aren't just for islands — they apply to any grid area with lots of renewables and not enough storage.
Electricity grids with high renewable energy shares face a fundamental reliability problem: wind and solar are intermittent, causing supply-demand mismatches that threaten grid stability. Islands experience this most acutely because they have limited grid connections and often rely on expensive diesel backup generators. The same challenge increasingly affects mainland grids as renewable shares grow across Europe.
The project delivered 39 outputs including a detailed DSM system design for Orkney, along with operational pilot installations across 3 islands combining battery storage, power-to-heat, power-to-fuel, pumped hydro, EV integration, and predictive grid management algorithms. Each island tested the technology mix best suited to its local conditions.
If you are a distribution network operator dealing with grid instability from rising renewable energy shares — this project demonstrated demand side management systems, predictive algorithms, and battery storage integration across 3 island grids with 22 partners. The tested solutions keep grids stable under high renewable penetration without costly infrastructure overhauls.
If you are an EV fleet operator dealing with unpredictable charging loads stressing the local grid — this project tested smart vehicle-to-grid integration and electricity stored on board boats across real island networks. The approach turns EVs from a grid burden into flexible storage assets that earn revenue through demand response.
If you are an island energy authority dealing with expensive diesel imports and unreliable renewable supply — this project piloted power-to-heat, power-to-fuel, and pumped hydro solutions on Orkney, Samsø, and Madeira. The 3 demonstration sites proved that islands can operate stable grids with high renewable shares using locally appropriate storage mixes.
The project data does not include specific per-unit costs for the demonstrated technologies. However, as an Innovation Action with 22 partners and 39 deliverables, significant engineering and integration work was completed across 3 pilot sites. Contact the consortium for site-specific cost breakdowns.
Yes — the project explicitly designed for this. Two of the 3 pilot sites are not total energy islands, meaning they represent smart grids connected to mainland networks. This was intentional to avoid limiting replication potential to island-only locations.
The consortium of 22 partners from 6 countries jointly developed the solutions. IP ownership follows standard EU grant rules, typically held by the partner that created it. RINA CONSULTING SPA coordinated the project and would be the first point of contact for licensing discussions.
The pilots tested battery storage integration, power-to-heat, power-to-fuel, pumped hydro, electric vehicle grid integration, electricity stored on boats, an aggregator approach to demand side management, and predictive algorithms. Each island tested the solutions most appropriate to its local conditions.
The project ran as a large-scale demonstration (Innovation Action) from 2017 to 2021 and is now closed. The 3 island pilots demonstrated real-world grid operation under stable and secure conditions. Based on available project data, these solutions are at pilot-proven stage, ready for commercial deployment planning.
The project addressed EU energy targets directly and demonstrated solutions for demand response, intelligent control, and automation of distribution networks. The work aligns with EU clean energy legislation pushing for grid modernization and higher renewable shares across member states.
The SMILE consortium is notably industry-heavy, with 11 out of 22 partners (50%) coming from the private sector, including 5 SMEs. This signals strong commercial intent — not a research-only exercise. Coordinated by RINA CONSULTING SPA, a major Italian engineering consultancy, the project spans 6 countries (Denmark, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, UK), covering diverse European energy markets. The presence of only 2 universities versus 4 research organizations and 11 industry players suggests the focus was firmly on deployment-ready solutions rather than academic exploration. For a business looking to adopt these technologies, this consortium composition means the solutions were designed with commercial viability in mind from the start.
RINA CONSULTING SPA (Italy) coordinated the project. SciTransfer can facilitate a warm introduction to the right technical contact.
Want to explore how SMILE's island-tested smart grid solutions could work for your energy network? SciTransfer connects businesses with EU research teams — contact us for a tailored briefing.
