The island councilor of Energy of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Ariagona González, is firmly committed to transitioning towards renewable energies to fight against climate change, but from the conviction that defining the correct location of the necessary infrastructure is fundamental to avoid damaging the territory of Lanzarote.
In an interview with Ekonomus, González shows the Cabildo's preference for promoting photovoltaic energy on roofs and the use of electric cars. She announces that they are preparing subsidies of up to 3,000 euros per vehicle and that there will be 12 new public and free charging points in the Art, Culture and Tourism Centers. She also explains the institution's position on land and marine wind power.
- The Cabildo wants to have an ordinance that defines where to install renewables on the island, when will it be ready?
We estimate that we can have it commissioned by early February, once the budgets are ready, and in six months they will deliver the document to us. Then a public exhibition will be held. It will have to be ready in 2023.
- In the meantime, your institution has indicated some restrictive criteria. Can you explain them to us?
Until we have that ordinance, there are certain types of installations that should not be installed. We do not doubt the need to transition towards renewable energies and fight against climate change, but on an island like Lanzarote, the location of these installations is extremely important to avoid damaging the territory.
One of the main assets of the island is the landscape, which is why people come to visit us, because we are different from the others. Until we have the ordinance approved, neither wind farms nor photovoltaic farms should be installed in Lanzarote, because we put the territory at risk.
We want to avoid what has happened in Fuerteventura or Tenerife, where wind farms have proliferated throughout the territory without any planning and have caused very destructive visual impacts on the landscape and a citizen response against it. Things have to be done right.
"We must stand firm to preserve the ecological heritage we have"
- These criteria have served to stop several private projects. On the other hand, two public projects have been authorized, one in San Bartolomé and another in Arrecife, through the Water Consortium. Why have these projects been authorized?
These wind farms come from a public tender won by the Cabildo, through the Water Consortium, during the presidency of Manuela Armas. Their planning has been developed for a long time.
It was planned where these wind farms would go and the roadmap was agreed between the Cabildo and the seven town councils. Their planning was also studied extensively in the Biosphere Reserve Council. In other words, their planning had a long journey in time to define why these parks go there and not elsewhere.
"Lanzarote is different from the rest of the Canary Islands"
- One of the private projects, which had obtained an authorization from the Government of the Canary Islands, later rectified by the Cabildo's request to the Government of the Canary Islands, has taken the decision to the courts. Can you explain in more detail what happened?
The Cabildo has told the Government of the Canary Islands that it does not consider it appropriate to apply article 6b in these cases (an exceptional route of the law that regulates the Canary Islands electricity sector). The Governing Council of the Cabildo has made a request to the Government of the Canary Islands based on this reasoning and what it has said is: Listen, let's wait to have an ordinance, that planning, so that these infrastructures can be installed later.
- Are you afraid that the court will rule in favor of this company?
No, because I think that what we defend is completely honest. Anyone who knows Lanzarote knows that we live in a very fragile territory, and that we have to maintain a balance between the activities we carry out and the environment that sustains it.
Not only in the deployment of renewable energies, but in everything: in the tourist deployment, in the accommodation offer, in the use we make of our protected natural spaces... People want to come to Lanzarote because we live in a unique place and we have to preserve it.
For that we have to have policies with a head, which may be poorly understood, but which in the end demonstrate that Lanzarote is different from the rest of the Canary Islands, that in Lanzarote we have a different conservation of our environment. And that costs, but we have to stand firm and make decisions, which maybe, sometimes, are not very understandable, but are necessary to have the appropriate deployment and to preserve the ecological, environmental and landscape heritage that we have.
"Maybe it is more interesting to have a marine wind farm than four on land"
- The competences in renewable energy matters belong to the Government of the Canary Islands. Could the Canary Islands executive ignore the Cabildo's ordinance in any circumstance? Could it be at risk if there is a change of Government at the regional level?
That can only happen in unforeseen, exceptional and very well justified situations, but this is not an exception. Wind farms are not an exception, they are a reality. And they will be placed where they have to be placed. The Government of the Canary Islands will have to take into consideration the Cabildo's ordinance and will have to respect it. Even if there is a change of Government, because the planning of the territory, when approved, is respected.
The Island Territorial Planning Plan of Lanzarote of 1991 did not mention the deployment of renewables. That is why we need the ordinance, when we have it, that will be the territorial planning for renewables and the Government of the Canary Islands, the Cabildo of Lanzarote, private companies, everyone will have to follow it.
- And what about offshore? How are the installations of wind turbines in the sea going to be undertaken so that there is no landscape impact?
Offshore is a state competence, there the Cabildo of Lanzarote has no competence. The central government makes the marine spatial planning plans (POEMs). Now, what has the Cabildo of Lanzarote done? It has made allegations to the Marine Spatial Planning Plan of the Canary Islands, which has been drafted by the Ministry of Ecological Transition during the public consultation period (on the document).
In its allegations, the Cabildo has said that Lanzarote has a coast that has many uses: tourism, navigation, fishing, with protected natural spaces, which are part of the marine environment, in which these facilities should not be placed. We have highlighted the areas in which these wind farms should not go because there is another use in place.
They are necessary facilities, but we are going to make them compatible and see where they can be. The good thing about marine wind energy is that it is much more efficient and produces much more energy than wind energy on land. It is a balance that must also be taken into account, because maybe it is more interesting to have an offshore park than four on land.
- Where should the Government put these marine installations?
I understand that the Government will look for the ideal location, which should be on the most industrialized coast. Of course, an offshore in front of the beaches of Puerto del Carmen, for example, would not fit, nor would it fit in front of Jameos del Agua, because there we also have a protected natural space. So we have to look for the sites.
- Could the Government decide that there should be more marine parks in other more industrialized Canary Islands than in Lanzarote? Could a balance be made in that sense?
It could be, because after all we are an electrical system that is grouping more and more islands. The energy produced by Lanzarote will reach Fuerteventura and in the future, we hope to Gran Canaria and vice versa. So, what it is about is that the system integrates the energy regardless of where it is produced.
It also has to look at the depth. The oceanic platform of the Canary Islands is practically non-existent, there are few places where the depth allows its installation from a technical point of view.
"With photovoltaic on the roof, Lanzarote can achieve 40% of renewables in the grid"
- How much is the submarine interconnection with Fuerteventura helping in all this?
It helps when introducing renewables into the grid. Sometimes the mills cannot continue to produce electricity because that electricity cannot be integrated into the grid efficiently and can cause problems in the electricity supply grid, so it is important to have an interconnection to make the system more robust.
The Canary Islands are the most difficult to decarbonize, even though we have a lot of wind energy and a lot of solar energy. It is easier to decarbonize the Iberian Peninsula because the electrical system is very robust, because it is large and interconnected with France. The Balearic Islands have a cable connected to the Iberian Peninsula.
In the case of the Canary Islands that does not exist. We have isolated electrical systems. The only islands that are connected in the Canary Islands are Lanzarote and Fuerteventura with La Graciosa and now we are working on a submarine connection between Tenerife and La Gomera. We have to continue working on connecting the islands electrically, which are very expensive works because the depth at which we have to work is very large.
- I understand that the fundamental thing would be that there is an interconnection between Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria. Isn't that so?
Yes, that would be ideal, but that is a much more powerful investment due to the depth. It is not in the current planning of Red Eléctrica, from 2021 to 2026, but in the next planning it may be that the interconnection between Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria will be included. It is also true that at that time the technology will have progressed and it will be possible to work at greater depths.
- You still don't have an ordinance, but surely the Cabildo has a vision for the island on renewables. Is there a preference for photovoltaic on the roof?
Of course, there is a preference for photovoltaic on the roof. We have to protect the landscape, a solar garden occupies a lot of space and the territory of Lanzarote is small, it is protected and we have to look for those well-sought locations, does that mean that there can be no photovoltaic on the ground anywhere? No, there will be some place that yes, but it should not be the general deployment. The general deployment should be that everyone obtains their self-consumption installation on the roof of their home and from there they can generate the electricity they need and pour the surplus into the grid.
- What percentage of renewable energy can we achieve with photovoltaics on the roof in Lanzarote?
With the current interconnection we could reach a photovoltaic self-consumption power on the roof of 94MW, which would be equivalent to 40% of renewables in the grid.
- How important is the role of hotels in the ecological transition? Is the contribution of individuals more important?
Here the role of everyone is important. Of all the individuals who can put an installation and of all the hotels that can improve energy efficiency and incorporate renewable energies into the grid. In fact, there are hotels in Lanzarote that have geothermal installations, with which they climatize their facilities and their swimming pools, and save a lot on the electricity bill and also contribute to decarbonization.
"Subsidies for photovoltaic panels are paid in advance"
Everything that hotels can do with geothermal energy or with self-consumption panels or charging points for electric vehicles so that tourists can rent an electric vehicle when they arrive and when they arrive at the hotel they can charge it, adds up. The tourism sector is making an important investment for its decarbonization.
- How can a Lanzarote resident who wants to obtain a subsidy for renewable energy installations find out?
In Lanzarote there are two services that inform about the different lines of subsidies and help citizens to process them. On the one hand, the green offices, which are dependent on the Government of the Canary Islands. We have one in the Cabildo. This office helps with the procedures, not only to individuals, but also to companies or projects that want to be carried out within the framework of the energy transition.
Then we have the Single Window for renewable energies, promoted and financed by the Cabildo, is located in the Chamber of Commerce. It informs about the lines of subsidies that exist, helps in the processing, and even informs about the type of installation that the individual needs, because depending on the house, the size and the energy expenditure, a larger or smaller type of installation will be needed.
- If a citizen wants to contract photovoltaic panels for their roof, what should they do to receive the subsidy and how long does it take to receive it?
The subsidies for electric vehicles that we will take out, will be a posteriori, but for the photovoltaic panels of self-consumption, if the application and the report of the installer that will do the work meet the conditions, the subsidy is paid in advance. And then the work will have to be justified when it is finished.
- And has it always been like this?
No, the subsidies are given in advance since we entered the Government of the Cabildo. Before they were a posteriori.
- What percentage of the cost of a new photovoltaic installation on the roof of a house in Lanzarote can be subsidized?
We normally subsidize 50%. This line of subsidies, which will be launched in the first months of this year, is endowed with 300,000 euros for everything that is self-consumption on the roof in housing. Not only individuals, but also companies.
Last year we took out 250,000 euros and many of the people who applied could not obtain a subsidy because the credit was exhausted. That is why we have increased it, to give more room to as many people as possible, because the more renewable energy there is in the grid, the more beneficial it is for the citizen's pocket and for the health of everyone and the planet.
- The Cabildo also proposes to support the electric car. How is it going to do it?
We are preparing another line of subsidies of 200,000 euros in total to help all those who want to acquire an electric vehicle. In this case we will give a fixed amount. We are thinking of subsidizing 3,000 euros per vehicle.
- But are there enough electric charging points on the island?
We have three public and free charging points of the Cabildo in Lanzarote. There are also shopping centers that have their own charging points, but I am talking about the public that exists.
It is true that in some of the public points some type of charging is missing. We are improving them and we are going to expand that network in the Art Culture and Tourism Centers: two more in the peasant monument, where we already have one; two in the Jameos del Agua, two in the Cueva de los Verdes, two in the Mirador del Río, two in the Cactus Garden and two in the Castillo de San José. We hope to have them ready also in the first six months of 2023. The projects are already practically drafted, but they have to be tendered for the works to begin.