Is it possible for an island to be supplied only with renewable energy?

Technological development and innovation in the field of The renewable energies is being awesome. Lowering costs and improving energy efficiency is making renewables highly competitive in markets and large multinationals.

It is well known that self-sustaining energy a city, a country, etc. It is still somewhat complex due to the guarantees of supply and the variability in demand. But is it possible that an island can sustain only renewable energy?

The island of Iron

In the Canary Islands we find the iron, an island able to be almost or completely self-sufficient only from renewable energies. In the production of electricity, wind and water are key elements and especially on the island of Hierro. The island of El Hierro is the smallest of the Canaries. What is your secret to being able to supply only renewable energy?

We find that the island of Hierro has an innovative electricity generation system in the central Gorona del Viento that works by combining the energy of a wind farm and a hydroelectric plant. This union of renewable energies managed to supply the entire island in the middle of August for 76 consecutive hours and for 493 non-consecutive hours.

However, despite obtaining that record of supplying the entire island with 100% renewable energy, we find in previous records (from January to October 2016) that the supply of renewable energy has meant 43% of all electricity demand on the island. This percentage is very far from the potential that can be had.

Energy model as an example

The Gorona hydroelectric plant was inaugurated on June 27, 2014 and many energy experts have their sights set on it, since it can be a perfect energy model for the rest of the Canary Islands. All the technological and energy development that is taking place on the island of El Hierro serves as a test bed and experiments to be able to implement these energy efficiency models on other islands. In addition, new studies are being carried out for those places where only wind, water or sea waves are available as possible energy resources and not like the Iron that has both.

Until 1970, El Hierro only had several towns with light and only from dusk until 12 at night. Years later they began to supply themselves with energy through fossil fuels, but the difficulty of wiring and transportation of fuel made it difficult and the prices of electricity increased. That is why they have taken the leap to go dispensing with fuel oil and the emissions that this entails and they have innovated in clean and cheaper energy.

The advantage that El Hierro has had over other islands is that the operation of the Gorona plant allows two types of renewable energies to operate in parallel: wind and hydro. The downside of wind power is that it is a bit more unstable due to the fact that it depends mostly on the current wind regime. But the instability of wind energy is compensated by an energy that is not as fluctuating and easier to regulate as it is hydraulic. This energy input makes it possible to compensate for wind oscillations.

What is wrong so that the goal of 100% renewable cannot be reached?

As I mentioned before, in the period from January to October 2016, only 43% of energy demand was covered by renewable energy. In the first place, what fails is that the lower water tank has a smaller capacity than had been anticipated. Probably, during construction, it should have been reduced in size since not the volcanic soil could not bear so much weight. This fact has reduced power to the plant and it must be expanded.

The second is that although the technical potential of the center can cover much higher demand percentages, the operator does not want to risk to cover so much demand so that, in the case of having any failure, not to generate cuts in the supply.

As you can see, renewable energies are making their place in the energy world and with increasing capacity and efficiency.