Tiny Spanish Island Nears Its Goal: 100 Percent Renewable Energy

Now this is what we need to be talking about when referencing the possibilities of the future with regards to renewable energy supply.  Wind supported pumped storage is something every system in the world, with storage backed hydroelectric power can exploit.  If you cannot pump, then simply curtail production when the wind is blowing.  When it is not, utilize the water that had been stored.  This is an old concept and an exisitng practice of hydroelectric companies.  However, rather than following the wind, they follow the rate at which the power is being paid for. If wind were ever to play a significant enough role in the energy mix, it would affect the price of energy, and effectively drive production or release of stored power.

Read the article below regarding El Hierro's ambitious and successful plan to cut off their need for fossil fuels with their combined wind and pumped-storage  facility.



It actually takes quite a lot of fossil fuel power to reach the tiny Spanish island of El Hierro. You have to catch a commercial jet flight, a propeller plane and then a ferry to reach what was once the end of the known world, before Columbus set sail.

But once you're there, there's no need for fossil fuels at all. The ancient island off the west coast of Africa is now a model for the future, within months of running on 100 percent renewable energy, which consists of a mix of wind and hydro-power.

El Hierro, the most remote of Spain's Canary Islands, is now billing itself as the world's first energy self-sufficient island that has never been hooked up to a power grid.

A Danish island, Samso, is also energy-independent, but was previously hooked up to the Danish grid and didn't make the change in isolation, like El Hierro.

Because of the topography of the surrounding seabed, El Hierro, an active volcanic island with a population of about 10,000, could never hook up to Spain's power grid.

Instead, it used big barges to ship in 6,600 tons of diesel fuel — the equivalent of 40,000 barrels of oil — each year, to power electricity generators. It was an expensive, time-consuming and dirty endeavor ... until now.

This past summer, El Hierro inaugurated the Gorona del Viento power plant, a $110 million wind and water turbine farm. By the end of this year, the plant will generate all of the island's energy needs of up to 48 gigawatt hours per year."

Tiny Spanish Island Nears Its Goal: 100 Percent Renewable Energy : Parallels : NPR: "

Too much power? Solution for too much wind energy

There is no question that we often need to give away and export of electricity when demand is low and production is up.  Why not find ways to utilize all of our excess electricity when demand is low?  Doing this through heat storage curtails our fossil fuel consumption, and provides us with lower cost heating options.  Great concept.  Would love to see more test programs developed with the Ontario smart metering roll-out.

January 20, 2011

Possible solution to storing wind power

Column | Korky Koroluk

A simple, low-tech solution to the problem of storing wind power is undergoing testing in three small North American markets — one in Summerside, P.E.I., and two in Maine.

In the process, it is showing how alternative energy is able to offer new jobs for HVAC engineers and contractors.

The solution involves not centralized storage in one large plant, but “distributed” storage involving small ceramic heaters in peoples’ basements. It’s also being installed in a few small commercial buildings.

Critics have often criticized wind or solar energy installations because the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine. Intermittent sunshine has been overcome by building concentrating solar plants which, on sunny days, store energy as molten salts that are later used to produce steam turbines. It’s a system that is now being used in several places in the world, most notably Spain and the American Southwest.

Now researchers have come up with ceramic heaters, which are nothing more than extremely dense ceramic blocks in insulated cabinets. The blocks store energy as heat when the wind is blowing, then release it slowly over the next day or two.

The American experiments have been under construction for several months; the Summerside project is just beginning.

Prince Edward Island produces a lot of wind power. The problem is that the wind tends to blow more at night when energy demand is low. Because of this, the province has been selling some of that surplus energy to mainland markets, but at low rates.

But at a recent meeting of Summerside city council, homeowners were asked to buy the ceramic storage systems.

The heaters are expensive, though, at about $2,000 each. They are expected to save money over the long term, but that is often not sufficient to get people to act. That’s why the city is offering users a break on their electricity prices that could amount to about $600 a year. City fathers hope that will lead to at least 100 sales this year.

In Maine, getting people to convert to distributed wind energy is more urgent because oil is used to heat 80 per cent of all homes in the state. That’s why the incentive for switching off oil is somewhat sweeter.

For a start, the Highland Wind project developer, Independence Wind, is offering any participating household a $6,000 “wind for oil” grant. The money is to fund the purchase of one of the ceramic-block units, although it can be used for any renewable energy or efficiency investment.

In return for providing the storage, Highland Wind will supply wind power to residents at a deeply discounted price.

Fuel oil is presently running at about $3 (U.S.) a gallon. The discounted price will be equivalent to about $1.15 per gallon of oil.

The other Maine project involves Vinalhaven Island — an entire island with small communities dotted around it that has committed entirely to wind power. But like P.E.I., it has had to sell some off-hours power or shut down some of its turbines.

The project looks like a winner for the local economy, as well as individual users.

The total project is estimated to cost more than $210 million, most of which will go directly into the state economy through engineering, environmental, construction and related jobs. At peak construction, the project will bring more than 300 jobs to the local region. And every year, the project will pay more than $500,000 in state, local and county taxes.

That’s a lot of benefits for the application of what is really an old idea. There is, after all, nothing new about using ceramic blocks to store heat, and similar heaters are already in use in Britain to even out peak demand on its electricity grid.

But an old idea becomes new again if it means reduced reliance on oil.