Adán Martín, accompanied by José Segura, Government Delegate in the Canary Islands, and Luis Atienza, President of Red Eléctrica, has inaugurated the company's headquarters in Tenerife, on the occasion of the start of the company's activity. Also María Luisa Tejedor, Minister of Industry, Commerce and New Technologies of the Government of the Canary Islands, inaugurated the headquarters of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, accompanied by Alberto Carbajo, General Director of Operation of Red Eléctrica.
Red Eléctica also plans the development of the transport network in the long term and proposes to the state and regional bodies the new infrastructures that must be developed to meet the expected increases in demand.
During the presentation, Luis Atienza, president of the company, thanked the Canary Islands Government for the support provided since the beginning of its activity in the Archipelago, and also highlighted "Red Eléctrica's commitment to provide the Canary Islands electricity system and citizens with a service of maximum quality and efficiency".
Red Eléctrica has been performing the functions of operator of the Canary Islands electricity system since July 1, 2004. However, until the approval of the ministerial order of April 10, it exercised these functions on a non-binding basis for the agents. "The independence of Red Eléctrica as an operator from the rest of the agents of the Canary Islands electricity system contributes to the process of liberalization and competition in the Islands, which is already a reality in the peninsular market," said Luis Atienza.
The Canary Islands electricity system
As in recent years, the demand for electricity in the Canary Islands maintains a growth percentage higher than the national average. In 2005 the increase was 5.13%, while the peninsular average stood at 4.32%. In 2005 the demand amounted to 8,495 GWh, compared to 8,081 the previous year.
The installed capacity in the Archipelago as of December 31, 2005 amounted to 2,339 MW, of which 2,148 correspond to the ordinary regime and 191 to the special regime. It is worth mentioning the commissioning of two combined cycle power plants, one in Tenerife and the other in Gran Canaria, which contribute 452 MW to the production system.
With regard to the generation structure, around 93% of the demand has been covered with energy from the ordinary regime, with energy from the special regime contributing just over 6.5%.
