Hyress – Hybrid renewable energy systems for the supply of services in rural settlements in countries of the Mediterranean area
The strategic objective of the Hyress project was to eliminate the knowledge barriers regarding the installation of hybrid systems based on renewable energies. As a demonstration, the installation of “mini-grids” based on renewable energies was carried out in remote populations in the partner countries of the Mediterranean area (MPC).
The hybrid systems envisaged under this project consisted of combinations of photovoltaic plants, small wind turbines or hydropower. Three systems combining these different technologies were designed and installed in rural villages in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. The design of these systems was based on modularity, resistance and simplicity of use, in addition to requiring very little maintenance.
Once installed and put into operation, they were monitored in order to evaluate the technical performance of the equipment, as well as the social scope of the installations.
As the working teams were conceived, the aim was to carry out a transfer of knowledge from European countries to partners in the Mediterranean area, developing good practices for replication of the project in other areas.
ITER, in collaboration with ANME, designed and installed a pilot plant in the village of Ksar Ghilène, in the province of Kèbili, south-east of Tunis, a village with about 50 houses, as well as a number of common services, such as a mosque, a school, a health centre and public toilets.
The project, which ran from October 2006 to September 2010, was funded by the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Commission, International Scientific Cooperation (INCO) within the field of specific measures to support the partner countries of the Mediterranean area (MPC).
The project coordinator was the Athens University of Agriculture (AUA) in Greece, and ITER participated as a partner along with the University of Alexandria (AU) in Egypt, the Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech (FSSM) in Morocco, the Institut für Solare Energieversorgungstechnik (ISET) in Germany, the National Agency for Energy Conservation (ANME) in Tunisia, the WIP company in Germany and the Clean Power Ltd Partnership (CP) in Greece.
