Gigantic water battery to supply Gran Canaria with energy
With a water battery, Gran Canaria would like to store a huge amount of sustainable energy in the foreseeable future. This should help with the energy transition. The backgrounds.
In the context of the energy transition, many countries are still struggling with a crucial problem. The question is: How can excess energy from wind power and solar systems be stored as effectively as possible? Because the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind sometimes stands still. However, so-called water batteries could be a solution.
This is basically a pumped storage power plant. When there is a surplus of energy, this pumps water into a reservoir in higher mountain locations. If energy suppliers need additional electricity, the water falls down a slope through pipes and in turn drives turbines. Such a project is currently being built on Gran Canaria.
Water battery for Gran Canaria costs 400 million euros
The government invested around 400 million euros in the new facility. Because the energy transition is and will remain an issue in Spain. Meanwhile, the planned system could spontaneously cover a third of the island’s electricity needs.
Gran Canaria wants to be completely climate-neutral by 2040. Currently, however, a large proportion of the energy required comes from burning oil (76 percent). The remaining 24 percent comes from renewable energy sources.
In order to increase this proportion, the new water battery appears necessary. Once completed, up to 51 percent of the total energy requirement will come from sustainable sources. By switching to sun, wind and water, the region will then save oil imports worth 122 million euros per year.
Water battery stores up to 3.5 gigawatt hours
The Soria Dam is at an altitude of 132 meters. The power plant feeds it from the water of Lake Soria. If everything goes according to plan, the system can generate up to 200 megawatts of energy in 2027. The storage capacity of the water battery is around 3.5 gigawatt hours.
The project thus joins a long list of other measures. In the past year alone, eight wind farms and twelve solar parks have been connected to the grid. The government is planning up to 65 further projects in the coming years. Then Gran Canaria could call itself climate neutral in 2040.
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