ALTERNATIVE ENERGIES

WIND ENERGY

The Canary Islands, together with the area of Tarifa, the Galician coast and the valley of the River Ebro, are the areas in Spain with the most potential for generating wind energy. In the Archipelago, this potential has been used throughout history, particularly in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, and in recent years it has once again gained great significance.

In 1991, INALSA decided to embark on setting up a Wind Farm (Los Valles Wind Farm) for self-consumption of 5 MW, in order to improve self-supply and diversify energy supply sources, thus optimising and guaranteeing production

    Se constituye la empresa "Eólicas de Lanzarote, S.A." cuyo objeto social es la explotación comercial del Parque.

The company "Eólicas de Lanzarote S.A." was set up to commercially operate the wind farm.

• Los Valles Wind Farm has recently been reinforced, substituting old turbines and increasing production capacity to 7.65 MW/h, which is double the farm’s previous production. • INALSA has decided to submit bids for 81 megawatts in the bid processes that the Canary Islands government will shortly be putting up for tender.

SOLAR ENERGY

The AQUAMAC project, called “TECHNIQUES AND METHODS FOR SUSTAINABLE WATER MANAGEMENT IN MACRONESIA” was approved within the European Community initiative INTERREG III B, for the area Azores Islands-Madeira Island-Canary Islands, of which the Consejo Insular de Aguas de Lanzarote is a member, and INALSA is a collaborating entity.

One of the blocks of joint activities within this project is the: “Proposal of actions to optimise the energy self-sufficiency of water cycles”. This block of activities was materialised in energy audits and efficiency assessments carried out in buildings and facilities and in the application of alternative energies in water cycles.

As regards the implementation of solar energy in our facilities, our Board of Directors has recently taken the following decisions:

• • Substitution of electric domestic water heaters for solar panels in work centres. Area to be installed: 25.22 sq. metres./li>
• • Installation of a 100 kW photovoltaic solar plant, connected to the grid. This plant will be situated on land belonging to the Punta los Vientos Power Station, in Arrecife.

CONCLUSIONS

With the aforementioned action, INALSA will achieve the following objectives:

• • Wind energy: compensation of energy costs with revenue of €740,000 per annum (12% of INALSA’s annual energy costs).
• • Solar energy: generation of annual revenue of €74.000 (15% of the Wastewater Treatment and Recycling Department’s energy costs).
• • Jointly, these measures will bring about a reduction of 17,600 T/year in CO2 emissions (greenhouse effect gas).