Red Eléctrica de España (REE) adds, for the first time, the interconnection of the electricity system of Gran Canaria with that of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote to its future plans. Although the possibility of connecting Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura (which in turn is connected to Lanzarote) by an underwater cable has been studied for some time, the electricity transporter is considering including its construction in the 2012-2020 planning according to the document presented to the media during the visit to its facilities carried out within the framework of the events prior to its General Shareholders' Meeting.
The general director of transport of REE, Carlos Collantes, explained that this union, which is still in the study phase, would create a single electrical system in the province of Las Palmas. Thus, the three islands will be able to be connected and the electricity produced in one could be consumed in the other.
The interconnection provides more security against possible line or plant failures, as it allows diversifying the consumption of the electrical energy produced. Until now, the Canary Islands have six isolated electrical systems (one per island, except in the case of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote).
Regarding the security of the electrical system, REE has recalled that the risk of blackouts in the Canary Islands has not passed and that this period will be extended for the next five years.
Collantes stressed that, in addition to the poor condition of the Archipelago's electricity lines (caused by adverse weather conditions), there are also projects to adapt the transport network that it acquired in July 2010 from Endesa to the company's standards.
"The objective is for the quality standards in the Islands to be the same as in the peninsula," Collantes assured. The main problem faced by the company, which is responsible for transporting electrical energy throughout the state, is the limited room for maneuver left by the Islands' lines, which are already saturated, to improve them. "It's as if we wanted to fix a suit while we're wearing it," said REE's president, Luis Atienza, in 2010, when he explained the problem of the lines in the Canary Islands.
REE is currently executing the Network Asset Improvement Project (MAR) in the Islands. Within this framework, 90 percent of the connections with Canary Islands substations will have to undergo some type of adaptation.
Thus, of the 346 positions (connection points between substations and electrical transport lines), different issues will have to be adapted in more than 90 percent of them, 312.
Collantes clarified that these modifications will be of different caliber. "It will not be necessary to change 90 percent of the positions, but changes will be made in 90 percent of them," he explained. The national head of transport of REE reiterated that "in some it will be necessary to change a component, but in others only modify a protection".
The first part of the MAR Project, which began in February, has already allowed REE to control 50 percent of the positions of the substations of the Islands. "We hope to control all of them in July," he says. However, the process will not conclude until within five years, since for now the control is carried out through Endesa's computer system. The control of the substations (either directly or through another system) is a fundamental step to, later, improve the current networks.
New projects
Despite the tightness of the transport network of the Canary Islands electrical system, the improvement of this will not influence the new projects that REE has in the Islands. Thus, in terms of the construction of new networks, the electricity transporter has announced that it will prioritize those that have to do with the installation of new wind power.
Collantes clarified that the only modification that will be made to the current planning is to prioritize the connection to the electrical system of the wind power that is installed from the tender called by the Government of the Canary Islands.
ACN