Currently, the project which will transform the future of El Hierro looks much more than a hole in the ground. Or both, to be exact: one on a mountain, a smaller another one down below, and between, a long stretch of pipeline tinged with the same color as the scrub that grows so abundantly on this volcanic island. But when this innovative wind energy system is online at the end of 2011, it will become El Hierro, the most easterly of the Canary Islands of the Spain, all of the inhabited territory first in the world to become completely self-sufficient in energy. And it is only the first step in a plan which may make the island the more sustainable place on Earth.
Ambitious sound? Consider the source. El Hierro is located more than 750 miles (1,200 km) of the Spanish mainland, and its volcanic landscape stark hosts no coal or fossil fuels. Fresh water is scarce, and electricity, its population of 10,000 depends on since long weekly led diesel by tanker. That is why, some 25 years earlier, the islanders began thinking about ways to convert to renewable energy, using two resources that they have indeed much of: wind and water. Today, with oil reserves to decline in the world and the disaster of Fukushima offering a reminder too present of the perils of nuclear energy, hydro-wind of El Hierro plant seems prescient positively. (See the top 10 green stories of 2010).
"Initially, it was simply a question of becoming more self-sufficient," said Tomas Padrón, President of the Council of the island, whose role is similar to that of a mayor. "We were completely dependent on outside deliveries and could be cut at any time." "But then with the world energy crisis and climate change and everything what has passed, we realized that it has much more value."
The future Central is a marvel of engineering and remarkably simple in its design. Five windmills on the northeastern tip of the island will power pumping station which, when the wind blows, will put the water 2 300 feet upstream, a tank (150 000 - cu - m) small, 5 million cubic feet down by the shore in a more grandréservoir 19 million (550 000 - cu - m) nestled in a cubic foot of volcanic craters on the island. When the wind drops, the water from the top of the page deposit will be published, along 1.8 miles (3 km) mainly camouflaged pipe in the bottom an and the pressure of water fall lead six hydraulic turbines. In other words, El Hierro will combine the two resources in which he is to deliver a continuous electricity supply, regardless of the time. "If we do not want to depend on fossil fuels, we have to have stable input and output," said Gonzalo Piernavieja, Director of research and development of the technological Institute of the Canary Islands, who designed the plant. "And is the only way to do so through massive storage." In this case, we use the nature gifts, wind and water of the sea, for storage. "(See more information about the amazingly long history of green energy).
The plant is expected to produce 48 GW/h (gigawatt hours), enabling El Hierro to retain some 6,000 tons of diesel fuel per year and to meet 100% of its energy needs by 2015. And at this time, the island will be well in his next projects of sustainable development. One of them, is already in progress, a plan to convert all the 4 500 electric cars of El Hierro. the same municipal corporation, Gorona del Viento, is to build the new station of hydroeolic will provide battery car powered by excess energy of the plant. "The whole system is integrated," explains Javier Morales, municipal councillor of El Hierro for sustainable development. "It's beyond green." When the power plant and the car system interact, it will be like colliding galaxies. ?
And this is not all that will be integrated. Unlike most of the other islands of the archipelago of the Canary Islands, who have staked their economy on mass tourism, El Hierro remains largely agricultural (pineapple and mango are its major exports). Its farmers too are seeking to come: together agricultural cooperatives of the island have signed a plan that will convert their fields in organic production over the next eight years. And these farms, in turn, will be linked at 'biodigester"that converts wastewater methane (which can then be used as fuel) and fertilizer.
How is it so small that it is not a movie theatre and therefore culturally conservative still disapproved of women unaccompanied in the bars come with such a revolutionary plan for the future? Thank you for geography, said Padrón President of Council of the island. "We have always doubly isolated, first from the continental Spain, and then the rest of the Canary Islands," he said. "And we always had problems with the drought and provision ourselves." It makes us look hard for solutions. "(See photos of Michelle Obama Spanish vacation.)
But if El Hierro problems are specific, its solutions are not to be, say officials. "Absolutely, this technology can be applied elsewhere," said Morales on the plant, whose upper reservoir is currently being lined with massive PVC sheets in preparation for the pumping of water from the first. "Hawaii, for example." We are informing them. "It is something that other volcanic archipelago, including more large but perhaps newly aware limits of conventional energy, want to study.
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