The Ministry of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands will study the feasibility of implementing thermoelectric geothermal energy in the facilities of the Timanfaya National Park.
The regional minister responsible for the Area, José Antonio Valbuena, explained that "the capacity to extract renewable energy from volcanic heat" has already been verified and the next step is "the development of an experimental project." This next point will be done through the Public University of Navarra (UPNA), through a project that guarantees that a thermoelectric generator "is capable of taking advantage of this resource and supplying electricity that respects the environment, based on the geothermal anomalies of this natural enclave." This initiative will be carried out over the next six months.
The Government of the Canary Islands explains that the agreement with the research group '134 Thermal and Fluid Engineering', belonging to the UPNA, includes "the design, construction and installation of GTEG prototypes of 0.5 Kw electric in the Islote Hilario", so that in the very near future it can supply "12 kWh of renewable energy every day for certain infrastructures of the Timanfaya National Park." They add from the regional Executive that the contract also covers, among other aspects, "the prototypes necessary to transfer this energy to the park's access controls and the analysis of the data obtained to study the feasibility of expanding said power."
“In this way, Timanfaya will contribute to having the necessary technical knowledge so that, in the future, Lanzarote can obtain clean, emission-free and constant electrical energy in all those areas of the island where this type of geothermal anomaly may exist,” added Valbuena. In fact, the counselor announced that they are already working "on a future agreement between the Government of the Canary Islands, the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the UPNA to advance in this line of work", once the viability of the prototypes located in the National Park is confirmed.
Among the advantages of this project, Valbuena highlighted that, unlike conventional systems for producing electrical energy in geothermal energy, based on steam turbines, this technology developed by the UPNA group "is capable of generating electrical energy without any moving parts, which translates into a much more compact, totally silent, very robust and reliable device, since it does not require maintenance or operation and is totally respectful with the environment."
For her part, the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo, pointed out the importance of placing the island "as a benchmark in the research and application of new technologies that allow us to continue advancing on the path of decarbonization."
“Lanzarote was a pioneer in putting land management at the service of sustainability and now it is our turn to contribute to leading the energy transition in the Canary Islands,” concluded the president.
Disclosure
The Government of the Canary Islands also indicates that these works that will be developed in the coming months will have a specific section on dissemination for the local and foreign population that visits the park, explaining "the main objectives of the project, a detailed explanation of geothermal alterations and the benefits of sustainable alternatives for energy generation".
For this purpose, the Canarian Government explains that it intends to install informative and interpretive panels in different parts of Timanfaya, with explanations of "how thermoelectric generators are capable of converting that heat obtained into electricity that respects the environment." Visitors will also be informed of the CO2 emissions that will be avoided to the atmosphere with this initiative.