Wind power advances in Lanzarote

Last year it was completed with a new historical top of wind energy production in Lanzarote, when a combined generation of over 67.5 million kilowatt hours was achieved, according to a statistical summary published by the Cabildo Data Center, together with the records of wind turbines Los Valles, Punta Grande (Las Caletas) and Teguise I wind farms.

The 2017 point was more than doubled, when the global generation was close to 32 million kilowatt hours, with two wind farms active, as Teguise I was not yet in service; and the final balance of 2018 was improved by 17.5%, almost in equal conditions, since two years ago the final generation rose to 57.6 million kilowatt hours.

The four latest generation wind turbines arranged in the Teguise I wind farm, near Zonzamas, were the ones that set the tone. This infrastructure, operating at full capacity since March 2018, was able to reach a final production of almost 31.26 million kilowatt hours. With an investment of 12 million euros, similar to that contemplated for the new Arrecife park, which will be twin, also near Zonzamas, it has means to provide electricity to more than 8,100 homes or to allow the desalination of drinking water for about 128,000 users.

The Los Valles wind farm, with a dozen wind turbines, on the other hand was able to generate about 26.24 million kilowatt hours, thus reaching its best record in years, although far from the top of 2008. This installation came into service in 1993, although with equipment that required removal, to have material with better capacity and greater efficiency.

The third wind farm in service, in Punta Grande, with two wind turbines inside the facilities in Las Caletas de Canal Gestión Lanzarote, was able to reach a production of just over 10 million kilowatt hours, thus improving slightly the records of The previous two years. This infrastructure operates at full capacity since the end of 2016.

As is usually the case, also in 2019 there was the circumstance that it was in July when the production was achieved to reach its best dimensions. In the seventh month a common record of just over 9.34 million kilowatt hours was achieved; value that by very little margin could not be matched in the following month. In this way, during the two central months of the summer a little more than a quarter of all general production was obtained.

As an anecdotal aspect, it was not possible to count on the production of the five mills arranged in Montaña de Mina in 2019. It was in 2012 when this infrastructure last operated. And there are no signs that he can recover in the short term.