Outside - Wärtsilä

All of a sudden, hawsers are loosened and then cast off. The four powerful
Wärtsilä 9L32 engines turn the propellers ever faster. Passengers on deck
wave, people left on the pier honk their car horns.
every iSLand iS one oF a kind. Our first stop is Syros, which is followed
by Paros. After that come Naxos, Ios, Santorini, Iraklia, Schinousa, Koufonisi,
Donousa, Amorgos and Astypalea. Here, shipping lines are essentially bus
routes and halts are frequent. We step off in Paros, windsurfing paradise and a
hub for the islands’ ferries. From here you can take other boats to explore the
Cyclades.
But instead of beach-hopping, we visit the power plant, an unremarkable
concrete building located on the island’s most distant corner. While tourists
are unlikely to ever see it, they could miss it - without the power it generates
there would be no ice in their drinks, no hot water in the shower and no air
conditioning.
Every island has its own power plant, many of them powered by Wärtsilä.
And as every island is unique, they all have their peculiarities when it comes
to producing electricity.
“There are two types of islands in Greece,” says nikolas g. vythoulkas,
Business Development Manager, Wärtsilä in Greece. “The first group consists
of Rhodes and Crete, the large islands which have fairly big populations.
Energy demand there is pretty constant throughout the year but of course it
peaks in the summer.”
“The Cyclades, islands such as Paros and Santorini, are in the second
group,” Vythoulkas continues. “In the winter, energy consumption is no more
than 4-5 MW, but demand is ten times higher in July and August. If the
power plants were to be operated by private companies, hardly anyone would
be interested. Investing for a peak period that lasts just a couple of months
is not good business. You would never earn your money back. That’s why
p
ferries are a vital lifeline for
the 120, 000 inhabitants of
the greek islands. [far left]
reportage
chapels and roadside shrines
offer everyone - both residents
and visitors - a chance to
rest and reflect. [above]
timetables are tight, with
loading and unloading
completed in minutes. [above]
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