Hvar Island is located approximately 40 km off the Dalmatian coast, administratively a part of Split-Dalmatia county. The island is 72 km long and in the widest part it measures around 10 km. Hvar Island is the fourth biggest island in Republic of Croatia with total area of 297 km2. Concerto Solution project area includes cities of Stari Grad and Hvar, as well as municipalities Jelsa and Sućuraj which means the whole island is a demonstration zone.
The permanent population of the whole island is approximately 11.000. Taking into account that Hvar is a popular touristic destination, the population is doubled in the summer period. Tourist season lasts from April to September.
The climate on Hvar Island is Mediterranean with mild and humid winters and warm and dry summers. Mediterranean winters are characterized with a large number of windy days with an average air temperature of 9˚C. The air temperatures in the winter rarely fall below 0˚C. Summer periods on Hvar Island are dry and very warm, lasting from April to end of September. Maximum air temperatures in the summer period can reach up to 35˚C which stimulates further island touristic development. Average annual air temperature on the island is around 16˚C. This characteristic Mediterranean climate encourages vegetation growth ensuring vast diversity of plant life on Hvar, especially aromatic plants.
Large number of sunlight hours (in average around 2800 hours per year) is favorable for renewable energy sources exploitation – photovoltaic modules for electricity generation and solar thermal modules for sanitary water preparation. Residents are not exploiting available resources despite large number of sunlight hours. Considering a large increase in population and hot water consumption during the summer period, only a small number of solar thermal modules are installed on the island. Also, a small number of standalone small-scale photovoltaic modules are installed in the areas that do not have grid access. Hvar Island does not have a biomass or biogas plant despite large exploitation potentials and unused considerable quantities of bio-waste, a by-product which is produced by gastronomic, agricultural and industrial activities on the island.
The overall objective of the Concerto Solution project on Hvar Island is to demonstrate that it is possible to make Hvar Island energy supply self-sustainable to a quota of 20% until 2020. Mentioned objective will be achieved by improving energy efficiency and exploitation of renewable energy sources. One big topic in the project is the improvement of energy efficiency in buildings. The refurbishment and optimization of energy consumption present biggest opportunities for savings and therefore will be applied on buildings in private and public sector. Assuming that energy consumption on the island will grow, primarily electricity consumption, it is necessary to exploit (renewable) energy resources available on the island. Such sustainable approach will be achieved by implementation of renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic plants and solar thermal modules. The most expensive energy is the energy for covering peak loads which will be greatly reduced with applying before mentioned principles, especially in the summer period. In order to increase security of supply on the island, implementation of Compressed Air Energy Storage units is foreseen. Such systems will be used with in combination photovoltaic installations.
Energy production from biomass is planned on the island (biomass incineration or biogas production). Such plant would represent a demonstration project which can be applied on other islands/communities. Compressed Air Energy Storage units, buildings refurbishment and optimization of energy consumption (building energy losses and energy management) will ensure more effective integration of supply and demand side, but also contribute to optimization of electricity grid. The experience of the partners’ communities will contribute to Concerto Solution Hvar success.
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