El Hierro covers its electricity demand for 24 days in a row with wind energy

The island of El Hierro has once again broken a world record with renewable energies in isolated territories by achieving 24 consecutive days of consecutive generation exclusively from the Gorona del Viento Hydroelectric and Wind Power Plant.

For 596 consecutive hours – between July 13 and August 7 – all the electrical energy consumed in El Hierro came from clean sources (wind turbines and hydraulic). More than 4,800 hours since the first ‘100% renewable’ period that occurred on August 9, 2015.

The president of Gorona del Viento and the Cabildo de El Hierro, Alpidio Armas, stressed that the 24-day record is “one more step towards decarbonization and full supply with renewables.”

Alpidio Armas recalled that Gorona del Viento met last June its first five years of operation and “since then it is a fundamental piece for the integration of renewable generation in the electrical system of this island and an example for other isolated systems.”

“El Hierro has become the world capital of innovation in generation with renewables. The succession of coverage records marks a path for a sustainable future based on an energy model of self-sufficiency with alternative energies,” he said.

For Armas, “the accumulated experience in the management of the Hydroelectric Power Plant is an opportunity to establish ties with other regions that are moving towards self-supply”, while at the same time affirming that it is the first isolated territory in the world capable of using water and wind As a majority source of electricity production, it makes them “a technological example, but also a tourist attraction and a benchmark for the training of experts in innovation with renewables”.

The demand for electricity increased 2.4% in El Hierro in the first half of the year compared to the same period of 2018, with a total of 20.5 GWh. In terms of production, the Hydroelectric Power Plant has covered 52% of El Hierro’s demand for electricity so far this year, a figure that is expected to continue to increase during the summer when the trade effect is greater. In addition, since its launch the Hydroelectric Power Station has avoided the emission of some 80,000 tons of CO2.