Gerling
helps Greek island quench its thirst
 |
| Milos - home to the
first geothermally-powered desalination plant |
Milos, Greece,
11 September 2002 -
German insurance group Gerling is providing financial and managerial support
to an initiative that will alleviate the drinking water shortage threatening
the Greek island of Milos.
The Milos project, a private-public
partnership between Gerling's Sustainable Development Project (GSDP), the European
Union and the Greek government, aims to provide a sustainable alternative to
importing water from the mainland by coupling geothermal energy with a desalination
plant.
According to Gerling, the
island supports 7,000 inhabitants and 700,000 overnight stays during the summer
months but its groundwater reserves have been exhausted, and what is left has
been penetrated by seawater.
The company reports that
on average 300,000 tonnes of bottled water are shipped to the island every year,
and 240,000 tonnes of drinking water taken over in tankships, at enormous financial
and environmental cost.
According to GSDP's George
Radoglou, senior project manager of the scheme, the technical solution chosen
for the Milos project is the first of its kind.
He said: "The EC fund
was granted due to the innovative character of the project. There is no other
desalination plant known to us that covers almost 100% of its energy needs by
renewable energy sources."
The energy needed to power
the desalination plant is generated by pumping up geothermal fluids from the
upper earth's crust where temperatures reach 100°C. The water is injected
back underground after providing the thermal energy needed to desalinate sea-water
and produce electricity.
Unlike other schemes, the
system used on Milos produces sufficient electricity to pump, transport and
re-inject the geothermal fluid, so operating costs are low.
Mr Radoglou estimates that
when the plant goes on-line the cost of drinking water will be under US$1.8
per cubic metre compared with US$356 today.
In addition, the partnership
hopes local agriculture will benefit from the introduction of irrigation schemes,
and groundwater levels will recover. In the long term the system could be used
for a sustainable small-area network, providing heat, hot water and cooling
technology for the islands' larger communities.
"This is just one of
the projects we are working on," said Aiko Bode, Project Manager at GSDP
in Cologne. "GSDP is a vehicle for us to develop new insurance markets
and innovative sustainable solutions, while meeting the real needs of communities
around the world".
"We have invested money
and manpower in the Milos scheme, in the hope that similar projects are launched
elsewhere and that we are asked to underwrite the risks involved."
But, according to Mr Bode,
GSDP has gone much further than simply acting as an investor in a sustainable
development scheme.
"The key to the success
of this project is that we have been involved on the local level at every step
of the process," he said. "We began by holding open discussion sessions
where local inhabitants were invited to express their views, and then we formed
a local company, Milos SA, which recruited from the local workforce."
GSDP is also providing technical
and administrative assistance to the Municipality of Milos and the regional
government to help renovate the water supply network on the island and ensure
seamless integration of the desalination plant into the grid.
After completion of the
project, GSDP plans to introduce the system into at least four other islands
in the region. The team is currently studying other areas around the world that
could benefit from the technology.
GDSP is a project development
company established to support sustainable development principles.
Gerling Group of Insurance
Companies is one of the world's leading industrial insurers, reinsurers and
credit risk insurers with a global staff of 11,000 employees. The group operates
worldwide and has offices in over 30 countries. Gerling is a member of ICC Germany.