The project commenced its operation with success in 2019. The Monastery is supplied with electrical energy through the new off-grid, hybrid system, achieving impressive figures in terms of renewable sources penetration, reduction of consumption of fossil fuel, and electrical grid stability and uninterrupted power supply.

The hybrid system is comprised of the following power sources:

• PV plant: 500kWp nominal power
• BESS: Li-Ion batteries 554kWh capacity
• Converter: 800kVA off-grid storage converter
• Diesel engines generators: totaling 1200kVA

EOS implements a fully automated Micro-Grid Control system, based on Siemens industrial automation products. Advanced intelligent functions were incorporated for optimal use of power sources maximizing efficiency, e.g. functions that carry out load sharing between sources, voltage and frequency control, battery management, spinning reserve calculation, automatic start of backup generation, load shedding and restoration. SCADA system was also implemented for the control and the monitoring of the system through workstations. Data logging, statistics, history trends and list of events are also recorded.

During the initial operational period of the system the following key performance parameters have been achieved:

• The Monastery covers its electricity needs without fossil fuels for approximately 10 hours per day.
• Renewable sources penetration is approximately at 55%. The curtailed energy is around 25% of the total PV production, and future planning is underway in order to reclaim the excess energy.
• Fuel consumption has dropped about 55% (previous daily consumption was 1300lt whereas now is 600lt). The same figure applies to CO2 emissions.
• Grid quality has vastly improved, by having continuous power without fluctuations, voltage dips and power interruptions.