El Hierro Renewable Energy Hybrid System: A Tough Compromise

The Gorona del Viento project was characterized in this article, concerning its implementation, as well as several years of exploitation in an isolated location, namely on the El Hierro island. The hybrid system includes a wind farm and a pumped storage power plant, which acts as an energy storage, and all are equipped with a control system. The planned strategy assumed a configuration based on 100% wind energy supply. However, the system does not guarantee the anticipated effectiveness. The problems with the lack of energy self-sufficiency are partly the result of changes in the project made already during construction, in particular because of the mismatch of the water reservoir's capacity and the wind turbines' energy production efficiency. This results in the necessity to limit the wind farm capacity to ensure grid stability and hence requires supplementation of energy from the diesel generator. The author compared the object to analogical ones which employ different technological solutions and presented potential suggestions as to improve the existing state and achieve the reliability of the system's operation.