Report on Sustainable Management of Environment in Canary Islands

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the renewable energy potential in the Canary Islands, focusing on the sustainable management of the environment. It begins with an introduction to the islands and their natural resources, highlighting their suitability for renewable energy production. The report details the original electrical generation techniques, primarily fossil fuels and wind energy, and discusses the current electrical generation prospects. It then describes the prevailing wind system, wind energy conversation system potential, and other renewable resources such as solar, geothermal, and biomass energy. The report explores the constraints and opportunities for wind energy development, including territorial and wind constraints. It concludes by emphasizing the significant potential for wind energy generation, the benefits of transitioning to renewable sources, and the importance of sustainable practices in the Canary Islands. The report references various sources to support its findings and recommendations.

Running Head: SOCIOLOGY 0
sustainable management of environment
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Contents
Introduction 2
Original electrical generation Techniques. 2
Description of prevailing wind system 3
Wind energy conversation system potential 3
Other Natural Resources for electricity generation 5
Conclusion 5
Bibliography 7

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Introduction
Canary Islands are extensive group of Spanish islands which are the autonomous community of
Spain ( Quintero , 2012). The islands are located on Atlantic Ocean. The archipelago possesses
extensive natural resources which are its major attractions. It is considered one of the most
precious eco-system in the world. The alluring island has around six Biosphere Reserves and
four National Parks. The natural areas consist of natural pools, sand dunes, forests and
volcanoes. Diversity of natural resources gives it an enormous opportunity of the production of
renewable energies. The canary island has enormous potential for electricity generation. The
3000 sun hours in a year with 5 to 6Kwh of radiations gives it an enormous potential for solar
energy (Gils & Simon, 2017). The high-speed wind energy 7-8 m/s of trade winds, if utilized
gives a production equal to 3000 to 4500 hours (European RE Islands Conference, 2015). The
report discusses the current electrical generation prospects of islands, its description of the
prevailing wind system, wind energy conversation system potential and the other renewable
resources, which can be used for its production.
Original electrical generation Techniques.
The original electricity generation techniques exploited by the Canary Islands are Fossil Fuels
and wind energy. The fossil fuel energy production accounts for 98.27%of total energy but
excess usage of fossil fuel is linked to higher environmental pollution and the decrease in their
level, as they are non-renewable resources. In past, higher usages of fossil fuel have caused
various environmental accidents, which included massive fire in the habitants of people.
According to the safety measures, the renewable resources are comparatively safer as compared
to the non-renewable resources. There is huge potential for the Canary group of Islands to
produce electricity renewably. There are some islands, which have exploited them for the
electricity production. One of the Canary Islands which is El Hierro has utilized its wind and
solar energy to produce the electricity. It has used the combined wind and power energy for the
electricity production. There are wind farms, which utilize the gust of winds from the green
mountains, and the Volcanoes, The energy produced from the wind turbines are used for
pumping the fresh water from the water body thus creating the energy for the electricity, which
then produces 11.5 megawatts of energy to meet the demands of 10000 residents of the island.

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This is a combined way of producing electricity ( Hir, 2011). Wind Farms are located also, in the
coastal areas that are producing good amount of electricity to meet out the needs of the
population. There is also a hydroelectric generation of electricity. There are desalination plants
which de-salinate the sea water at the same time producing the electricity. The management of
the electrical system goes to Red Electric a which operates the system of Spanish electricity
(Soria ID & -Monroy, 2018). In 2018, the growth of 137.11% in electricity production through
wind energy has been recorded.
Description of prevailing wind system
The wind power in the Canary Islands offers the great opportunity for the production of electrical
energy. In the report by Evwind, there has been a growth in the energy production in the past
years, which is equal to 390 megawatts, and now the wind energy production comprises of 43%
of the total Canary households (801,779) (Evwind, 2018). In the past years, a lot of intensive
work has been undertaken for the developments of good windfarms and the large amount of
money had been spent in improving the adequacy of the wind turbines. In the end of 2015, there
were 53 wind plants and around 34 wind plants are under construction by the end of 2019. Many
highly efficient wind plants have come up. The new companies have developed innovative wind
turbines that are in the shape of sycamore seeds, which even on the slightest of wind, spin with
the high speed. The Sycamore shaped turbines have the power to produce nearly five times the
existing turbines which is around 20 Megawatts. These innovative wind farms in the Canary
Islands are increasing the electricity production. Besides these, there have been the establishment
of many wind farms in the coastal region of the country and at landscape expanding wide.
Wind energy conversation system potential
The canary island has the potential to produce 3000to 4500 hours of electricity as it is having the
trade winds of velocity 7-8m/s (Rodríguez1, 11). The great ecosystem of the island produces
congenial conditions for wind which include forest, natural pool, volcanoes, sand dunes and
great coastal areas. The archipelago has the highest potential, as there is availability of trade
winds in all seasons. Some constraints come up in the establishment of wind-farms. These are
territorial and wind constraints. The territorial constraints are the restricted areas, where the wind
energy system can not be constructed. It includes National parks, Rural parks and Natural parks.
The other is wind constraint where the appropriate conditions have to be determined for its

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establishment which include wind speed. These are the unavoidable barriers. Other barriers
include scarcity of land, air-safety restrictions and environmental issues. Barring the few
inappropriate conditions for its establishment, there is large part of area remains for the
development of the wind turbine parks in the island (Kuang, et al., 2016).
Depict- The unhighlighted areas represent the potential of the Canary Islands for the
establishment of the Wind Energy Conversation System.
Source:(Rodríguez1, 11)
Other Natural Resources for electricity generation
There are other natural resources which can be used for electricity generation is geothermal,
solar energy and Bioenergy. The Canary Islands have the greatest potential of accomplishing
geothermal energy system. In an article by Alexander Richter, the island has the potential to
generate 30 % of the geothermal clean energy. According to the, the institute of canary

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Volcanology, the archipelago has the highest potential for Geothermal energy. The other option
includes Solar energy, as the island has 2500 to 3000 sun hours in the area, so solar panels could
be constructed. The Biomass energy which generates from the plants and animals’ residue. There
is the greatest scope for the production electricity from the biomass as due to the availability of
the huge forest area (Santamarta & Jarabo, 2014).
Conclusion
Renewable resources are those resources which can be renewed. the sources of the renewable
resources are wind, sun, biomass and geothermal. After analysis of the renewable energy
elements for electricity generation, it has been inferred that the Canary Islands have the huge
potential for the generation of the wind energy. The coastal areas and the high-speed trade winds
in all seasons make it most suitable for establishment of wind turbines. They can reduce their oil
imports and focus their whole investment on development of wind energy. The electricity
production through wind energy will produce cleaner environment. After a period, the economies
of scale could be achieved. It is important to keep few points in mind for its construction; those
points include development of the wind energy system on the approved areas. The development
should take place keeping in mind all the safety measures provided by the government.

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Bibliography
Hir, P. . L., 2011. EL Hierro, an island in the wind. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/apr/19/canary-island-renewable-
energy-lehir
[Accessed 24 August 2019].
Quintero , . J., 2012. Lonely Planet Canary Islands. 5 ed. New york: Lonely Planet;.
European RE Islands Conference, 2015. Renewable Energies in the Canary Islands:. [Online]
Available at: http://www.globalislands.net/greenislands/docs/spain_Canary_Islands.pdf
[Accessed 24 August 2019].
Evwind, 2018. Wind power in the Canary Islands has grown by 137.11% in the last three years.
[Online]
Available at: https://www.evwind.es/2018/10/31/wind-power-in-the-canary-islands-has-grown-
by-137-11-in-the-last-three-years/65026
[Accessed 24 August 2019].
Gils, H. & Simon, S., 2017. Carbon neutral archipelago–100% renewable energy supply for the
Canary Islands.. Elsevier, 188(2), pp. 342-355.
Kuang, Y. et al., 2016. A review of renewable energy utilization in islands. Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews,. Elseveir, 59(1), pp. 504-513.
Rodríguez1, J. S., 11. Wind potential evaluation in the Canary Islands. [Online]
Available at: http://www.icrepq.com/icrepq'11/333-schallenberg.pdf
Santamarta, J. . C. & Jarabo, F., 2014. Analysis and Potential of Use of Biomass Energy in
Canary Islands, Spain. IERI Procedia, 8(1), pp. 136-141.
Soria ID, M. U. & -Monroy, . C. R., 2018. Special Regulation of Isolated Power Systems: The.
[Online]
Available at: file:///C:/Users/SystemJP/Downloads/sustainability-10-02572%20(2).pdf
[Accessed 24 August 2019].

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