ARKALOCHORI
How can olive oil production drive the energy transition and bolster the adoption of renewable sources?
Arkalochori, renowned for its olive oil industry, exemplifies this through the use of olive tree trimmings to power a biomass plant, offering heating and cooling solutions to the community.
How can olive oil production drive the energy transition and bolster the adoption of renewable sources?
Arkalochori, renowned for its olive oil industry, exemplifies this through the use of olive tree trimmings to power a biomass plant, offering heating and cooling solutions to the community.
About ARKALOCHORI
Arkalochori is a former municipality of Crete that has been merged with the municipalities of Thrapsano and Kastelli to form the current Municipality of Minoa Pediadas. Situated in the centre of a semi-mountainous plain, Arkalochori serves as the primary urban centre in the region, home to approximately 5,000 permanent residents.
The town is one of Crete’s major agro-urban areas, with important economic, social, cultural and industrial activities, characterised by its well-established olive oil production.
The community’s need
The area of Arkalochori has both considerable heating and cooling needs.
Our solution
Thanks to the over 20,000 t/y of olive tree trimmings, a biomass plant will be the best solution to offer affordable fuel to local consumers. The plant will be designed to process 2,000 t/y of raw material in a moving grate biomass boiler of 2 MWth installed power. The boiler could produce up to 1.6 MWth of heating water to meet major energy needs such as the heating of the Olympic-size swimming pool centre – allowing 250,000 euros per year to be saved -, but also the needs of neighbourhoods with low-income households.
In addition, a small wind turbine station will be installed near the town with up to 2 wind turbines of 60 kW nominal power each. The proposed action can be enhanced with decentralised electricity production by PV. The installation of decentralised storage facilities, combined with the electricity production from the photovoltaic plants will also lead to the annual compensation for the final users’ electricity consumption.
Community composition
50 final users, including residential, commercial, industrial (olive oil mills and wineries) and municipal facilities
Benefits
Over 60% electricity cost reduction
Reduction of heating costs up to 73%
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Latest updates
CRETE VALLEY district heating project welcomes DISCO partners in Arkalochori
Representatives of the DISCO project visited the CRETE VALLEY district heating project in Arkalochori as part of their annual partner meeting in Crete, learning more about the system under construction and exchanging knowledge on sustainable heating and cooling solutions.
Crete Valley at Enlit Europe 2026: an island powered by renewables
Crete Valley will participate in Enlit Europe 2026 in Vienna, showcasing its vision of transforming Crete into a Renewable Energy Valley powered by local renewable resources, energy communities and smart digital solutions. Visitors can attend the project's featured session and meet the consortium throughout the event in the EU Projects Zone.
Co-funded by the European Union under grant agreement no. 101136139. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
