Canary Islands
The Canary Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands lying off the cost of NW Africa just 100kms off the coast of Morocco. The population was 2,153,000 in 2019 and covers an area of 7,498 km2.
There are 7 major populated islands but also many other smaller islands and rocks. The two principle islands are Gran Canaria and Tenerife with over 80% of population. Other inhabited islands are Fuertaventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro and La Graciosa but the first 2 have the largest populations and most economic activity. By contrast La Graciosa off the island of Lanzarote has only 658 people.
The two principle cities of Las Palmas on Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife act as co-capitals of the islands. Spain is the sovereign power but the Canaries have an autonomous government and senators in the Spanish upper house.
Until the 15th Century the islands were inhabited by native peoples related to the Berbers of north Africa. Then a succession of Portuguese, French and Spanish explorers visited and occupied the islands. Eventually the islands passed to Spanish control while the Portuguese were given Madeira, Azores, Cape Verde and other undiscovered Atlantic islands. The attraction of the Canaries was the NE trade winds which carried ships to the Americas and west Africa. They were also a supply point for the long voyages to the Caribbean including Christopher Columbus in 1492.
The climate in the Canaries is sub tropical with long hot summers and warm winters. Those parts of the islands facing the African continent have drier winters and more sunny days whereas the northern side facing the Atlantic and north easterly winds have wetter winters and more cloudy days. However all the islands are ideal for solar energy and offgrid power production throughout the year.
Las Palmas on Gran Canaria is the second largest city with 383,000 and is one of the two joint capitals with Santa Cruz with a population of 583,000. Tenerife has the largest island population with 917,000 followed by Gran Canaria with 851,00, Lanzarote with 152,000, Fuerteventura 116,000 and La Palma 82,000. The other islands have less than 30,000. The total population of 2,153,000 compares with 966,000 in 1960. All the islands have benefitted from the rise of mass tourism and there are now 417,000 foreign residents mostly from Latin America but also 154,000 from Europe including 26,000 from the UK.
Tourism has grown rapidly since the 1980’s. Within a few hours of northern Europe and having a sub tropical climate the Canaries are also part of the EU so its easy for other Europeans to settle on the islands. In 1993 there were 6.5 million visitors and this had grown to 9 million by 2006 and 16 million in 2019. UK tourists account for 3,355,000 visitors and German visitors another 2,495,000. There has also been a commensurate growth in permanent residents and plenty of potential for solar energy providing personal power to every house. Residents can live in remote mountainous areas and still be certain of a personal energy supply feeding all their needs. In urban and semi urban areas a link can be maintained with the grid while still producing 95% of their own domestic power supply.
GRAN CANARIA
Gran Canaria is one of the two main islands with the second largest city of Las Palmas. The island with 1,560 km2 has 40% of the Canaries population including many foreign residents.
Commercial agriculture is present in the form of sugar and bananas but tourism is overwhelmingly the main source of income and wealth. There were 4.27 million visitors in 2019 compared with 5.89m on Tenerife but the Canary Islands are conscious of the need to preserve and enrich the environment that people appreciate and return to year after year.
Gran Canaria is a volcanic island with the main peak rising to almost 2,000m. The climate or micro climate varies widely around the island. But typically the south has a desert climate while the north and home to most of the population has a wetter and cooler climate influenced by the North easterly winds. On average the island has 320 sunny days – one of the highest in the world and the highest in Europe. Needless to say, ideal for offgrid solar installation.
In the south sunny days are even more and Agaete is the only place in the Canaries where they can grow coffee. Its even been selected by NASA as a monitoring centre because of its long clear days.
Electricity is provided by a local company operated by ENDESA (Spanish electrical utility) who have 30% of shares. 60% are held by the local government and 10% by a technology institute.
The grid is operated by Red Electrica Espana and together with ENDESA have an ambitious renewable plan. On the island of El Hierro with only 10,000 people, they have built an 80mW wind generator which satisfies all their power needs and will save 40,000 barrels of imported oil between now and 2050. It also saves 18,700 tonnes of CO2 emissions. This is the first substantial island in the world to be 100% renewable. They also plan that all 6,000 vehicles on El Hierro will be electric. That alone will boost solar installations on Gran Canaria and all the other islands.
Despite ambitious plans most electricity is generated from fossil fuels and even by 2050 renewables will not be 100%. The German Space Agency in a report commissioned by Greenpeace has stated that the Canaries could be 100% renewable by 2050 saving 42,000 million barrels of fossil fuel and reduce generating costs by 9 c from 23 c per kwHR to14 c. Energy savings of 37% could also be achieved over the same period.
The number of clear, sunny days on Gran Canaria means that the best source of energy is solar guaranteeing at least 95% of energy needs. Until recently Spain made it illegal to generate energy at home but the Canary’s government has removed that impediment. Offgridinstaller is happy to provide its offgrid solar services allowing more homes and commercial buildings and agriculture to benefit from free and clean energy.
