Gran Canaria is maybe greatest recognized for its sandy seashores, everlasting sunshine, and volcanic previous. However remoted removed from the European mainland, the island depends closely on imported fossil fuels to energy its rising financial system — 76% of its electrical energy comes from burning oil.
In an effort to decarbonise, the federal government has been investing closely in renewable energies to harness the island’s considerable wind and photo voltaic assets. In 2022, renewables made up 24% of the island’s power combine, up from simply 12% in 2018. However as extra renewables come on-line, the island faces one other drawback: storage.
Final 12 months, the federal government invested €400m within the Canary Islands’ first-ever power storage scheme, to stabilise the grid when the wind isn’t blowing or the solar isn’t shining. This challenge received’t construct battery packs, nevertheless, however convert two current dams into one big water battery.
Salto de Chira, because the ‘pumped hydro’ challenge is thought, will pump water from the Soria dam into the Chira dam — which sits at a better elevation — in periods of low power demand. In periods of excessive power demand, water can be launched from Chira, down a tunnel, over a set of generators, and again into Soria. And the cycle continues.
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Pumped hydro is also known as a ‘big water battery’ as a result of it might probably retailer and launch energy on demand. In keeping with the Worldwide Vitality Company, it’s nonetheless probably the most broadly deployed storage know-how at this time, accounting for over 90% of world power storage capability.
When it comes on-line in 2027, the Salto de Chira challenge is anticipated to generate as much as 200MW of energy at occasions of excessive demand, equal to greater than a 3rd of the island’s wants. Final week, Spain’s grid operator Crimson Eléctrica chosen GE Vitality to produce the generators for the plant, in one other step ahead for the scheme.
In keeping with Crimson Eléctrica, the challenge will improve the island’s share of renewables from 24% to 51% and save €122m a 12 months in imported fossil gasoline. It is usually anticipated to create greater than 4,300 jobs, of which round 3,500 can be on Gran Canaria itself.
President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, known as the challenge a “nice enhance” to the archipelago’s ambitions of totally decarbonising its financial system by 2040, ten years forward of the targets set by the EU.
“Vitality storage goes to be one of many key components within the power transition, each for its contribution to electrification and for its capability to allow enhanced administration of renewable power, which is particularly necessary in non-interconnected techniques such because the islands,” he stated.
The Canary Islands has ramped up its decarbonisation efforts considerably within the final 5 years. The archipelago’s largest renewable power complicated, comprising eight wind farms and 12 photo voltaic crops, was inaugurated in 2022 and supplies sufficient power for round 54,000 households.
Spain’s authorities and the European Union additionally not too long ago introduced plans to offer €20m in funding to help the event of 65 new photo voltaic tasks throughout the Canary Islands by the tip of subsequent 12 months. The archipelago can also be exploring options akin to wave power, with the primary such pilot challenge led by Danish startup Wavepiston launched in February.
Key to the success of all these tasks, says one examine, would be the deployment of ample power storage options to stabilise the grid throughout peak demand, and the development of sea cables to attach the islands. Pumped hydro appears to be caring for the previous, whereas the latter is gaining momentum with the primary of many energy hyperlinks now beneath building to attach Tenerife and La Gomera. The hyperlinks are anticipated to lower the price of electrical energy for taxpayers and enhance power safety within the archipelago.
As European nations decarbonise their power techniques, adopting power storage options to stability the intermittent provide of renewable power and improve power safety is changing into more and more pressing. In keeping with the European Affiliation for Storage of Vitality (EASE), the EU will want 200GW of power storage by the tip of the last decade and 600GW by 2050.
A brand new trade coalition launched final week goals to advertise sustainable power storage applied sciences like batteries, hydrogen, and pumped hydro so as to attain these targets.
“Vitality storage is vital to constructing a future-proof, resilient, and decarbonised power system,” stated EU power chief Kadri Simson on the launch.
Pumped hydro tasks could be controversial, nevertheless, notably after they contain dams on rivers that flood land to create new reservoirs and have an effect on ecosystems. However as highlighted in an article printed in The Dialog final 12 months, most pumped hydro tasks don’t require the constructing of recent dams, however the retrofitting of current ones, as is the case with the Gran Canaria challenge.
Both method, the IEA’s landmark 2021 Internet Zero by 2050 report estimates that an extra 1300GW of hydropower is required if we’re to fulfill the local weather targets outlined within the Paris Settlement. That is double the present international capability.
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