IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - November/December 2020 - 69

an available geothermal resource; however, no hydrothermal resources for feeding high-enthalpy geothermal plants
have been localized. An Australian company that specializes in developing geothermal power plants around the globe
has unsuccessfully tried to start activities in the Canaries
to search for a local public-private partnership to share the
risks of exploratory drilling in some defined areas. Thus,
at present, geothermal activity in the Canaries is studied
primarily for geochemical and seismic research rather than
possible power plant development.

Hydropower
Hydropower was the first source of electricity in the
Canaries. It was promoted by visionary local investors on
La Palma (a minor island), producing power for the first
time on 31 December 1893. The first hydropower units
used natural streams and were mostly in Tenerife, with
some in La Palma. As the population and agricultural
activities grew, however, two types of systems developed
for capturing groundwater: drilling horizontal galleries at
high and medium altitudes and drilling wells close to sea
level. These activities produced water shortages for hydropower production. The power grid started to grow from
the port areas instead, where conventional generating units
were placed for an easy supply of fossil fuels (beginning
with coal, which was gradually replaced by oil). Conventional power plants came to be located in the capitals of
the islands, and, from there, the grids grew to the principal
towns in the islands' interiors. Today, hydropower is again
being considered but mostly for pumping and regulating
the power grid. It is quite difficult to find places to locate
the necessary reservoirs and grid infrastructure to connect
and transport the energy because the islands are environmentally protected.

Biomass
The beginning of electrification in some rural areas of the
Canaries was associated with agricultural activities but only
for consumption. Indeed, sugarcane in the Canaries was
replaced by other crops before the introduction of electricity. There are a few small biomass furnaces that supply heat
to public pools and resorts; however, the biomass comes
from other European countries since the forested areas in
the Canaries are fragmented and occupy a small overall
surface area. Also, the amount of residue from agriculture
is minimal and heterogeneous. There was an attempt in
2014 by the largest Spanish company producing electricity
from biomass, Energía & Cellulosa, to install two 70-MW
power plants in the port areas of Gran Canaria; however,
the regional government's Department of Health published
a negative report warning about the pollutants that these
plants could spread to the surrounding urban areas, and in
June 2016, the company decided to abandon the projects
because they would not receive any feed-in tariffs to make
the investment attractive.
november/december 2020	

Future of Renewable Energy
in the Canaries
Government Planning
As mentioned previously, the Canary Islands government
aims for total decarbonization by 2040 or, if possible, 2035.
The government previously used an approved energy plan,
the Canary Islands Energy Plan (PECAN) (see "Canary
Islands Energy Plan" in the "For Further Reading" section);
however, arranging the electric system is an exclusive competency of the Spanish government, with the participation
of Spanish regions and informed by the CNMC. After the
last PECAN was approved in 2007 and two annual followup reports were published in 2008 and 2009, no new scheme
has been authorized. Only a draft strategy, Canary Islands
Energy Strategy (EECAN) 2025 was published; it highlighted the main PV and wind capacity indicators expected
for 2025 (Figure 4) but did not include any legal reinforcement (see "Canary Islands Energy Strategy 2015-2025" in
the "For Further Reading" section).
The share of renewable energy in the Canaries has
discontinuously expanded, including the rapid growth
of wind energy at the end of the 1990s to approximately
137 MW; public auctions for new wind power plants that
were challenged in court from 2004 to 2014; a PV boom
from 2005 to 2008, bringing the total renewable generation to 160 MW; and a new wind energy surge from 2017
to 2018, which raised the total to approximately 435 MW
after a public auction in 2017. Moreover, new wind power
plants (183.3  MW) are expected before 2022. Offshore
wind receives special consideration in the EECAN, which
projects that 300 MW of offshore wind power plants will
be installed by 2025, since offshore wind generation is
viewed as an opportunity for the industrial sector in the
Canaries. Indeed, some prototypes are being financed by
the EU and tested in Gran Canaria, in addition to marine
energy devices. The coastal areas of the Canaries are
strictly protected, however, and the water is deep near the
shore of most of the islands (Figure 5), so floating wind
turbines might be required.
As of September 2019, REE had given permits for access
(after checking that there is enough spare capacity at the
node) and connections (after reviewing the technical content of the project) to the transmission grid, and Edistribucion (Endesa) to the distribution grid, for up to 806 MW of
PV and wind power plants. Endesa issued permits for up
to 806 MW of PV and wind energy to access the distribution grid. Another 2,126 MW of PV and wind projects have
permission only to access the grid (connection permits are
still pending), while 413 MW are in the process of obtaining access and connection authorizations, and requests for
590 MW have been rejected because of technical problems
(i.e., requests for connection to a substation that is saturated
or does not yet exist). It cannot be assumed that all the PV
and wind capacity with permits for access and connection
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