Pilots

Pilot on Power Outage on the island of Halki – Greece

Location

Halki, Greece

Policy Objective:

Power outage management of public infrastructure and cultural assets of Greek municipalities via emergency response mechanisms.

Context.

In Greece, dealing with emergencies is centrally managed by the Greek government and imposed at regional level by the various municipalities of the country. Unfortunately, the municipalities often lack the technical infrastructure and communication mechanisms that could help them deal with emergencies more efficiently. One challenge that has proved difficult to manage, mainly in rural areas and islands, is the case of sudden power outages, a serious and underestimated problem that can affect citizens as well as public infrastructure buildings (hospitals, police stations, fire departments) and cultural assets (archaeological sites, monasteries, museums), potentially leading to disastrous results.
It is not uncommon for these sites not to be effectively protected by the national response mechanism, especially if they are in an
inaccessible area.
It makes perfect sense that public administrations should have the knowledge, tools, and ability to formulate evidence-based policies regarding power outage management and response mechanisms that could help them handle emergencies more effectively by being tailored to the specific challenges of their regions (e.g., existing capabilities and local natural phenomena that can lead to power outages such as strong winds in mountainous areas and islands).

Pilot Description:

The Sustainable City Network (SCN) is a non-profit organization located in Athens that offers support and technical assistance to Greek municipalities. The Municipality of Halki, a small Greek island of approximately 400 habitants, known for its beauty and rare scenery is one of the 72 municipalities-members of SCN and the Greek pilot of the Decido project.
Power outages are a common occurrence for the island of Halki due to the lack of stability of the island’s electricity distribution network and its inability to meet the particularly high demand of tourism, hot summer days.
Through DATABUILD platform, Sustainable City collects and processes GIS and energy data from various public infrastructure buildings in Halki to help formulate energy-efficient policies.
In the framework of this pilot, the aim is to utilize the knowledge generated by DATABUILD and DECIDO portal, combine it with data from other available repositories (weather and climate data, geological data), analyze the results and produce evidence-based policies to improve the emergency response mechanism on the island.
Additionally, the pilot will use existing tools, frameworks, and methodologies to develop a comprehensive roadmap and provide Greek municipalities with a holistic solution that will help them:

1. specify the parameters that lead to power outages
2. develop prognostic measures
3. co-create evidence based, customized emergency response mechanisms for power outages in their regions.

Co-creation and engagement:

The co-creation activities will mainly involve residents of the affected areas who can have a valuable contribution towards the development of emergency response strategies by describing the ways power outages affect their area, pointing out the severity of the situation. Public authorities will be able to modify their strategy based on feedback they receive from citizens and business owners. The pilot will also involve local civil protection authorities with a unique perspective on how to mobilize during emergencies to help citizens and businesses.
Local NGOs can also play a role in helping raise awareness and provide guidance to citizens and businesses to help local communities better cope with power outages.
Public authorities will be able to modify their strategy based on feedback they receive from citizens and business owners. In addition, the pilot will engage local civil protection authorities who will offer their unique perspective on how to mobilize during emergencies to assist citizens and businesses.

Spreading Halki’s News!

Spreading Halki’s News!

The successful implementation of the policy designed to manage power outages in Halki is now a reality! As a next step, #Sustainable­_City and the Municipality of #Halki are taking the initiative to...

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