Wind Energy Conversion Systems on the Canary Islands

The Canary Islands is made up of seven different islands. Having a population of approximately 2.13 million people. It has been facing in recent years a significant economic development. There is a constant increase in energy demand in these islands due to the increasing population and the number of tourist every year. Their energy production is based predominantly on fossil fuel. The Canary Islands have shown progress in the last few yesars in terms of boosting the generation from natural sources (wind and sun) and reduce the dependence on Fossil Fuels. These islands are diverse and peculiar to each other in terms of features. Wind Energy Conservation Systems is growing rapidly in the canary islands having increased by 137% in 2018. The Canary Island of El Hierro, which has a population of about eleven thousand People is planning on becoming self sufficient.

Wind Energy Conversion System

A wind energy conversion system (WECS) is powered by wind energy and generates mechanical energy that sends energy to the electrical generator for making electricity. The generator of the wind turbine can be a permanent magnet synchronous generator, doubly fed induction generator, induction generator, synchronous generator, etc. Wind energy acquired from the wind turbine is sent to the generator. To achieve maximum power from the WECS, the rotational speed of the generator is controlled by a pulse width modulation converter. The output power of the generator is supplied to the grid through a generator-side converter and a grid-side inverter. A wind farm can be distributed in onshore, offshore, seashore, or hilly areas. The WECS might be the most promising DG for future SG.

Original Generation Techniques

Electrical generation in the Canary Islands has been based on fossil fuel. The electricity generation systems in isolated regions are abundant due to how the general national policies and regulations are applied to these much smaller systems. In the Canary Islands, the thermal power plants which are small electricity generators are often powered by reciprocating engines burning the fossil fuels. Diesel engines are often used for back up generation, usually at low voltages, although most large power grid uses diesel generators. These thermal plants are distributed in all the islands with some having a combined cycle.

Recently, the Canary Islands have areas with high potential energy resources with adequate conditions for integrating renewable generation. The operation of these networks is notably complicated by insufficient interlinking within the network, difficulties in their territorial expansion for environmental reasons, and voltage levels lower than those in mainland networks. The power installed on each island is grouped according to the kind of energy source used. Renewable energy sources provide only 12% of the total energy requirements in the Canary Islands, adding up to 367.7 MW, produced mainly by photovoltaic, with 180.5 MW, and wind power, with 158.6 MW. Although, as in previous years, the share of electricity produced from renewable sources in the Canary Islands is relatively small when compared to the total electricity generated. It is important to note that the island of El Hierro, thanks to its hydro-wind power plant, reached 66.1% energy use from renewable sources in July 2016.

WECS Potential

In recent years, wind energy installed in the Canary Islands has grown by over 135%, reaching about 390 megawatts, which is equivalent to the annual consumption of 343,615 households, which represents 43% of the homes in the Canary Islands. El Hierro, the smallest of the Canary Islands, is aiming to become the first island in the world to become fully self-sufficient for electrical energy. To achieve this, the 268-square-kilometre island has installed five wind turbines, two water deposits, four hydraulic turbines and a pumping station in order to make the energy it requires. The potential of Wind [image: ]Energy Potential in the Canary Island is very high. Being that the islands have an annual average of 28.08km/h. Also, since El Hierro is aiming at decreasing their dependence on fossil fuel from Ternofi, which is 200km away. It was until !970, tjhat El Hierro had electricity from dawn to dawn due to blackouts caused by insufficient diesel. This insufficiency was caused by their bad weather, poor sailing conditions and transporting vessels. El Hierro is the first to secure a constant supply of electricity by combining wind and water power and with no connection to any outside electricity network. Surplus power from the wind turbines is used to pump fresh water from a reservoir to a larger one at volcanic crater located about 700 meters above sea level. When there is little or no wind, the water will be channeled down to the lower reservoir through turbines to generate electricity in turn.

Alternative Natural Sources

Alternative natural sources for electricity generation in the Canary Islands are so many. These possibilities may be expensive but under consideration of the current state of our world are important for green energy. These natural sources are as follows:

Hydro-Power

This is the generation of electricity with the use of water. The Canary Island have enough water bodies and can also adapt the standards of El Hierro to maximize their production and reduce the production of CO2 and other environmental hazards like spillage and green house gases.

Solar Energy

With a solar radiation on the horizontal surface of 5.7kWh/m2day, the canary islands can harness the energy from the sun to generate electricity. Solar energy is expensive but also the safest of all the possible sources of electricity generation.

Tidal Energy

Tidal energy is produced through the use of tidal energy generators that are designed to capture the kinetic motion of the ebbing and surging of ocean tides in order to produce electricity. Tidal power has great potential for future power and electricity generation because of the massive size of the oceans. Since these islands are located in the Atlantic ocean it could get its electricity generation here.

Wave Energy

Wave energy is produced when electricity generators are placed on the surface of the ocean to convert energy by ocean surface waves to electricity. Although it has not been implemented yet, it could serve as an alternative given that these asre islands that get a lot of strong waves from the ocean.

Discussion

There shows to be promise in the Canary Islands in the management and generation of electricity. It is wished to increase the generation of electricity through the greener and renewable sources which would help in the campaign of ending global warming. El Hierro is a leading example in terms of having a self sufficient energy system. The use of wind energy conservation system combined with the water energy is a great achievement. They are keen on switching to electric cars and aiming to build composting plants to turn half of the country’s trash to agricultural fertilizers. As a result of these advances, it has been possible to double the number of wind farms in Lanzarote and increase its installed wind power by 167%. Something similar has happened in Gran Canaria and Tenerife, whose power has been increased by 90% and 65% respectively. The Canary Islands are making plans to double the number of wind farms in the country by 2020. WECS is a secure and safe energy system that is abundantly available in the Canary Islands. It is environmental friendly and has fewer cases of environmental cases of accidents. AS we have seen in El Hierro, it has reduced the dependence on fossil fuels which gives way to less exploitation.

Conclusion

WECS is an energy system of the future. As we have seen in the canary islands, it could be combined with other energy systems to give secure and clean electrical energy. More researches and projects should be carried out in the other nations of the world on the alternatives of fossil fuels and other dangerous energy systems. Clean and green energy is all around us and the wind blows everywhere. Harnessing this energy system will help in the fight against Global warming, fossil fuel exploitation and other related problems.