The need for electricity and fresh water on the island of El Hierro in the Canary Islands is expected to be fully satisfied with the system they have put in place. Five windmills and two water wells will be used, one of them built at a height of 700 metres and another 50 metres.
In the event of wind, wind mills, in addition to meeting the electricity needs of the 10,000 people living on the island, will provide a system to transform salt water into freshwater. The water in the bottom well will affect the pumps up to the top. When there is no wind, the water will be released from the top well and, by gravity, will affect the turbines at the bottom well access to produce electricity.
Through this system, the island's energy needs, with 278 square kilometres, are expected to be met by 2030.
Environmental activist Mikel Álvarez has produced an exhaustive critical report on the wind macro-power plants that Repsol and Endesa intend to build in the vicinity of Arano and Hernani of the region. In his opinion, this is "the largest infrastructure of this kind that is... [+]