La Gomera to generate 70% of its energy from wind

Parts for the new wind turbines arriving in the port of San Sebastian de La Gomera last month (Image: gomeranoticias.com)

Finally the planned construction of wind tubines in La Gomera is going ahead and the arrival last month of the first large parts for the wind turbines heralds the end for the ageing and very smelly diesel generator driven power station in the island's capital San Sebastian de La Gomera.

The new large windmills will be constructed in three wind parks in the mountains above the capital, one of them near 'El Camello'. This desolate spot once had indeed camel stables, then it housed a discotheque and nightclub, and after that had closed down refugees from Africa were housed there in container homes.

The three wind parks, once completed, will generate up to seven megawatts of electricity and should cover 70% of the island's 10MW average demand.

The plan to generate all of La Gomera's electricity from renewable sources was drawn up in 2019 and the arrival of the first segments of the windmills was hailed as a historic moment by the authorities.

The aim is to become 100% self sufficient in electricity generation and the next step in the island government's plan is the construction of solar photovoltaic parks to augment wind energy and to provide stability of the grid. Some of the diesel generators will probably remain on stand-by.

The new windmills will hopefully be a lot more reliable and sturdy than the only two previous turbines near Epina that never worked very well. One of them even got blown down in a storm a few years ago (more here...).

New public bus service

Valle Gran Rey bus station (Estacion de Guaguas)

A new public bus service has been inaugurated between La Gomara's western towns of Vallehermoso and Valle Gran Rey. Previously passengers had to change buses at Apartacaminos in the forest of the national park with very few connections available. Now the new direct service will travel between the two towns three times a day in each direction (twice on Sundays and public holidays) with the usual stops in between. The new service will facilitate locals travelling to and from the ferry terminal in Valle Gran Rey and will be of great interest to tourists as well, as it is now possible to reach scenic highlights like Epina much more comfortably. The single fare for the full distance between Valle Gran Rey and Vallehermoso is a modest four Euros and the new connection will have the number 8 (Linea 8).

La Gomera's public bus services have been owned and successfully run by the local government for many years now, after the previous private service went bankrupt despite generous subsidies. The timetable for the new service can be found here: Linea 8 Guagua Gomera SAU

Note: A bus is called  'GUAGUA' (pronounced 'gwa-gwa') in the Canary Islands and not 'autobus' as in Spain.

Wind turbine blown down

The blown down wind turbine near Epina (Images: gomeranoticias.com)

The recent gales and storm force winds have blown down one of La Gomera's two wind tubines situated on a high ridge near the village of Epina in the island's west. The two windmills there were erected in 1996 and ironically the one destroyed had only recently been refurbished, while the other which survived the gales was turned off at the time of the incident awaiting refurbishment. The two wind turbines generated over 500 kw/h of electricity last year. The strong winds gusted over 100 km/h in La Gomera's mountains several times in recent days and for the next few days it will stay very windy and gusty in exposed areas. Warnings of strong winds gusting 75 km/h have been issued for Friday Feb.2nd 2018, and for Saturday. For Saturday there's an additional warning of rough seas. However, even today it is very windy here again and the weather station on La Gomera's highest peak recorded a wind gust of 93 km/h at 9:40 am.