Self-Sufficient Energy Supply for Isolated Communities: Wind-Diesel Systems in the Canary Islands

Jose Antonio Carta and Jaime Gonzalez

The Energy Journal, 2001, vol. Volume22, issue Number 3, 115-146

Abstract: This paper describes the technical and economic methods used to select a wind-diesel power system in the Canary Islands. The project was implemented with the aim of meeting the complete energy requirements of a small isolated fishing village, while minimizing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. We focus on the decisions taken and lessons learned during configuration of the hybrid system. The project offers a working model for the application of renewable energy to an isolated community where there is no external electricity supply. We analyse nine hypotheses for the system's configuration and operation including the option of using diesel only as a base for comparison. Our results show that the hybrid systems, though employing high percentages of wind energy, were actually more expensive in terms of units of energy produced than the diesel only option. Therefore, a reduction in CO2 emissions implies additional costs in the energy supply system.

JEL-codes: F0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.iaee.org/en/publications/ejarticle.aspx?id=1368 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to IAEE members and subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aen:journl:2001v22-03-a05

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.iaee.org/en/publications/ejsearch.aspx

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in The Energy Journal from International Association for Energy Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by David Williams ().