 © El Hierro biosphere reserve. Wind-hydro power project. |
Submitted Case Study |
The hydro-wind project consists of a wind farm, a pumping unit and a hydroelectric plant. The wind farm supplies electricity directly to the network and simultaneously feeds the pumping unit that raises water to a higher reservoir dam, which works as energy storage system. The power plant uses the stored potential energy, ensuring power supply and network stability.
This hydro-wind project will avoid the annual consumption of 6,000 tons of diesel, equivalent to 40,000 barrels of oil imported by boat to the island, saving over 1.8 million euro yearly. Likewise, it will avoid the emission of 18,700 tons of CO2 per year into the atmosphere. That amount of CO2 is equivalent to that fixed by a forest of 10,000-12,000 hectares, an area equivalent to 17,000 football fields.
Canary Islands’ Biosphere Reserves towards Rio+20
Spain
The island of El Hierro, with a population of 12,000 inhabitants, will become by the end of 2013 the first island territory in the world able to power itself entirely from renewable energy sources. For the first time the traditional problem of intermittency of renewable energy sources is overcome through combining the power generation of a wind farm with a hydraulic accumulation system.
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