Canarias
El Hierro to be the first island in the world solely powered by renewable energy
By m.p - Mar 20, 2007 - 9:31 PM
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The project is based on a system of hydro-wind power and costs more than 54 million €
The Ministry for Industry, Tourism and Commerce has announced that the island of El Hierro is to become the first in the world to be energy self-sufficient, exclusively in renewable energy.
The project, which is budgeted at 54.3 million €, is based on a system of hydro-wind power, where a 10 megawatt wind farm will be linked up to two water deposits: the largest of them, with capacity to hold 500,000 cubic metres, is to be built in the crater of an inactive volcano.
The electricity supply network will be supplied from a hydroelectric power station, while wind power will feed the pumping system and be stored as potential energy in the larger deposit, and thereby guarantee stability to the distribution network. Any excess will go directly to the supply network.
The project will save annual consumption of 6,000 tons of diesel, equivalent to more than 1.8 million €.