Small islands face unique energy challenges due to their heavy reliance on imported fossil fuels, leading to high electricity costs, energy insecurity and environmental concerns. The integration of solar energy is a promising solution, offering a sustainable, cost effective and resilient alternative. However, the successful deployment of solar energy systems in small islands requires addressing critical challenges, including land availability, energy intermittency, storage constraints and policy barriers. This paper explores innovative solar energy solutions tailored for small islands, emphasizing the role of photovoltaic (PV) systems, energy storage technologies and smart grid integration. Moreover, the feasibility of solar and battery-based solutions versus the operation of existing diesel-electric generators is examined in depth. A microgrid topology to cover the energy needs using a photovoltaic system combined with a battery storage application is being presented for the island of Donoussa. The complete analysis of the electrical load profile of the island is required using the energy demand for a three-year period. On the other hand, the expected energy generation of the PV system is being predicted using available data for the solar irradiance, the ambient temperature and other environmental factors for the same period. An integrated algorithm is used for the parametric analysis of different configurations of the proposed system in order to minimize or even eliminate the use of the thermal station of the island in favor of carbon dioxide emissions elimination. Several combinations of the required systems such as the PV station peak power and the battery storage capacity are investigated in order to find the optimum solution on the basis of a complete technoeconomic analysis. Recapitulating, the main purpose of this paper is to present an integrated algorithm able to define the optimal PV-energy storage configuration in order to cover the remote islands’ electricity needs at minimum lifecycle cost. To this end, for the remote island of Donoussa minimum fossil fuel contribution is obtained from the already existing thermal power station, offering at the same time environmental and economic advantages to the local community insisting also on safeguarding the reliable operation of the local electrical network.

PV applications, greenhouse emissions, energy storage, load demand, energy system optimization, cost-benefit analysis, supply security