Endesa and the Canary Islands Technological Institute (ITC), which is part of the Department of Employment, Industry and Trade of the Regional Government of the Canary Islands, have signed a collaboration agreement to develop a smart grid in La Graciosa, in order to achieve greater energy efficiency and the highest use of the renewable energy sources on this island off the coast of Lanzarote, thus making it a sustainable island.
The objective is to develop a clean energy supply solution for La Graciosa, using a smart micro grid in equipment used in distributed generation, energy storage, active and passive demand management, a reliable wind and solar prediction system, smart meters enabling remote management, electric vehicle recharge systems, etc, and everything that might make the island self-sustainable in terms of energy, in a feasible and efficient way.
This proposal shall be included in promoting activities for developing renewable energies as part of the European Pact of the Islands initiative: the idea is to help these islands achieve the EC’s 20-20-20 target (20% renewable energies, 20% improvement in energy efficiency and 20% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020).
The La Graciosa micro grid project will allow ITC and Endesa to continue to forge ahead and consolidate knowledge in this area (micro grids and smart grids with high penetration of renewable energies), an area of interesting potential for the Canary Islands in its search for more sustainable clean energy supply solutions which can help the islands become self-sufficient.