Isle of Wight envisions future as energy-independent 'EcoIsland'

Achieving energy self-sufficiency is an ambitious enough goal for an island community that’s not sitting atop a giant oil or gas field or straddling the sunny equator. But leaders of the Isle of Wight’s EcoIsland initiative are aiming for even more: they hope to eventually make the region a model for sustainable development around the world.

The latest partner to join in that effort is Toshiba Corporation, which plans to help support the project with a variety of “smart” technologies.

Located off the south coast of England, the Isle of Wight has a population of 142,000 in an area of 384 square kilometers. By 2020, residents hope to make the island the first region in the UK to be more than energy self-sufficient, with enough surplus power from a mix of wind, solar photovoltaic, tidal, geothermal and biomass sources to be able to export energy to the mainland.

The EcoIsland project will also aim to build a lower-cost, higher quality of life for residents, and explore an alternative transport system that mixes hydrogen, electric and fuel-cell vehicles.

Toshiba will work with EcoIsland and its partners to help bring those plans from concept to reality, and aims to assist with the integration of the island’s renewable power resources into a smart-grid network.

“This is a project driven by imagination and the vision of achieving a sustainable future where people enjoy a high quality of life,” said Koji Iwama, president and CEO of Toshiba of Europe. “A project with the breadth of EcoIsland can provide a model for such a future.”

Toshiba is involved in smart community projects around the world, including Okinawa and Yokohama in Japan, New Mexico and Indianapolis in the United States, Rome and Genoa in Italy and Lyons in France. Earlier this year, the company also acquired the Swiss smart metering firm Landis+Gyr.

The EcoIsland Partnership Community Interest Company was established in 2011. It has the goal of using advanced technology to achieve a new socio-economic model in which local communities and businesses can build a sustainable infrastructure without depending on government action.