CTO Assessment - European Commission

EL HIERRO
100% RES
A Biosphere Reserve island
Contact: Gonzalo Piernavieja • Canary Islands Technological Institute (ITC)
Playa de Pozo Izquierdo s/n. • 35119 Santa Lucía
Gran Canaria • Spain • Tlf: +34 928 727505 • Fax: +34 928 727517
E-mail: gpiernavieja@itccanarias.org• Website: www.itccanarias.org
The island of El Hierro, Canary Islands
(Spain), declared a Biosphere Reserve by
UNESCO in 2000, has an area of 276
km², a population of approximately 10.000
inhabitants, and is not connected to a continental
electricity grid. Currently, the electricity
demand is covered by a conventional
thermal power station (diesel system:
8’285 MW). The island has a big RES
potential, mainly wind, and wants to implement
a 100% RES project for its energy
supply. In order to reach this objective
3 different programmes are to be implemented:
Energy Saving Programme
The “100% RES for Electricity
Production” Programme
The Transport Programme (conversion
from Fossil Fuels to Clean Transport)
With the financial support of the DG TREN
of the European Commission, a consortium
of 7 partners, coordinated by ITC
(Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias), will
carry out a project that will focus on the
“100% RES for electricity supply” programme,
which aims, in a first phase, at
covering 70-80% of the electricity demand
of the island by means of several actions.
The set objective can only be reached by
the integration of several RES. In this context
the following actions are in focus:
Implementation of a Wind - Pumped
Hydro Power Station (with the target of
covering 75% of the island’s electricity
demand and achieving 30% direct wind
penetration into the grid)
Implementation of a Solar Thermal Energy
Programme
Implementation of a PV Roof Programme
Implementation of a Biofuels Programme
Main motivations
The bet on a strategy aiming at the attainment
of a 100% RES island already appears
within the Sustainable Development
Plan of the island, supported by UNESCO,
which defends an advanced concept of Biosphere
Reserve as an insular development
model and laboratory. The Reserve is characterised
by a high degree of participation
of the local population in the strategic decisions
affecting development, where energy
options are linked to the productive
model, to the integral exploitation of endogenous
resources, and to population’s
quality of life.
Hundreds of European islands (with more
than 5 million inhabitants), and thousands
of islands worldwide, could benefit from
the results of this project. As a consequence
of the foreseen actions, the following results
are expected:
Reduction of GHG emissions
Increase of life quality on islands
Increase of energy independence on islands
Demonstration of the fact that RES integration
is a way of providing 100%
energy supply on isolated islands
Demonstration of the fact that synergies
between RES (e.g. combination of wind,
hydro, solar, etc.) can highly contribute
to increase RE penetration into weak
grids in isolated areas
Demonstration of the fact that pumped
water storage is an economic way of
accumulating energy
Optimisation of the available potential
of RES using them together in integrated
systems for local power supply
Innovation
The most innovative part of the project
from the technical point of view is the Wind-
Hydro power station (WHPS). This is an
innovative concept of combination of 2
RES: wind and hydro power, using the
water as energy storage. The system overcomes
the usual problems of intermittency
(discontinuity) and power fluctuations
caused by the random character of the wind
resource and, thanks to the potential energy
storage (pumped water) and the controllable
power output of hydro turbines,
can establish a stable grid in terms of frequency
and voltage. This is the first experience
world wide of a WHPS that will provide,
on a yearly basis, approx. 75% of the
electricity demand of an isolated area and,
in some months (like in June, July and
August), 100% of the electricity demand.
Another innovating aspect is the creation
of a utility for the development of the 100%
RES Hydro-Power project. Consistently
with the strategy set in the Reserve, an
important part of the new company’s
shareholders are within the local population,
the others being the former utility and
the Cabildo (Local Government).
Replication
An important part of the project is devoted
to the construction and monitoring of the
WHPS on El Hierro, but also feasibility
studies for WHPSs on Crete and Madeira
will be elaborated and potential for other
islands will be assessed. Furthermore, aspects
concerning integration and involvement
of the island population in the foreseen
actions (in order to guarantee acceptability
of RES) will be addressed. In order
to try to replicate the project, emphasis
will be put in identifying islands that could
benefit from this kind of systems and also
in elaborating a dissemination plan.
The project demonstrates that, in conditions
of liberalisation and for isolated areas
with acceptable resources, the RES
option is viable and competitive.
CTO - Showcase
75