These three administrations have each requested 15 million euros from the Institute for Diversification and Energy Saving. Since 2017, they have been advocating for the conventional geothermal development in the Canary Islands, supporting and co-financing surface geothermal exploration research on their respective islands through the Canary Islands Volcanological Institute (Involcan).
The Insular Councils of Gran Canaria, La Palma, and Tenerife have recently promoted the implementation of public-private initiatives to boost conventional geothermal development in these three island environments. To do so, they have submitted requests to the Institute for Diversification and Energy Saving (IDAE), an entity under the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, for grants to conduct feasibility studies for innovative projects aimed at harnessing deep geothermal energy. This is part of the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan – funded by the European Union’s NextGeneration EU – which has a budget of 15 million euros for each of the islands. The IDAE grants amount to a total of 120 million euros from the Next Generation funds, with half, 60 million, allocated to the Canary Islands, at a rate of 15 million per island.
Juan José Martínez, the Innovation, Research and Development Advisor of the Tenerife Council, emphasized the importance of researching and exploring this resource, stating that it would not only reduce the consumption of fossil fuels but also provide stability to the renewable energy system. He also explained that Tenerife has submitted projects worth nearly 100 million euros in the western, southern, and south-eastern parts of the island in collaboration with ITER, Involcan, and DISA. He believes that these projects will contribute to the energy sovereignty of the island, especially in times of emergencies and potential blackouts.
Nemesio Pérez noted that since 2017, the Councils of Gran Canaria, La Palma, and Tenerife have been advocating for the development of conventional geothermal energy in the Canary Islands, supporting and co-financing surface geothermal exploration research on their respective islands through the Canary Islands Volcanological Institute (Involcan). He emphasized the need to invest in this area, as the Canary Islands are the only area in Spain with a high enthalpy resource. He highlighted that while they have been working on studies for years, it is now necessary to share the cost risk with private companies, which is high in the drilling phase but low if the resource is found. Pérez defended geothermal energy as a renewable, sustainable, stable, available, and flexible resource.
Nemesio Pérez explained that in 2023, the three insular Corporations have also submitted requests to the Government of the Canary Islands competition for obtaining research permits related to the development of conventional geothermal energy on their respective islands through their respective public companies: Insular Council of Energy of Gran Canaria (CIEGC); Promotion and Socioeconomic Development Society of La Palma (Sodepal); Technological Institute and Renewable Energies (ITER).
Fernando González valued geothermal energy as “constant and manageable” as it is a renewable source unaffected by meteorological phenomena. In the case of La Palma, it could reach an installed capacity of 20 megawatts. The Palma Council is competing with projects valued at around 60 million euros in the areas of Mazo and Fuencaliente through Sodepal, the Insular Water Council, the energy cooperative, and the Canopalma water community.
Raúl García highlighted the “intense collaboration with Involcan to support the Gran Canaria Council in the development of geothermal energy,” which aligns with the eco-island model advocated by the government team in pursuit of energy sovereignty through renewables. For this reason, they have submitted projects totalling almost 31 million euros in an arc between Telde and Valsequillo, in the east of the island, through a public-private initiative formed by the Insular Public Business Entity Council of Energy, Canaluz Infinita, Ayagaures Environment, and Canary Islands Base, from the Satocan Group.
“We believe that we will overcome the technical and regulatory challenges and the projects will be completed before the end of 2026,” he said, also highlighting that geothermal energy is a “promising alternative” to produce “clean and abundant” energy and contribute to the fight against climate change.
Geothermal Energy
Geothermal energy is defined as “energy stored in the form of heat beneath the surface of the solid earth”.
It is a renewable and cost-effective resource beneath our feet that harnesses the high temperatures of the Earth’s inner layers to produce heat and electricity sustainably. Moreover, it is available 24 hours a day and has predictable performance.
Geothermal energy operates continuously to meet the minimum energy demand level and can adapt to varying levels of energy demand. Additionally, production from untapped geothermal resources has the potential to drive local economic development.
Furthermore, geothermal energy is a versatile resource, and its multiple applications are optimized through cascading uses of heat at progressively lower temperatures. Finally, the environmental footprint of geothermal energy is much smaller than that of other energy sources.
Geothermal resources are found at various depths (from hundreds of meters to several kilometres) and can be used to generate both thermal and electric energy depending on their temperature. Deep or high-temperature geothermal energy is associated with thermal anomalies in the Earth’s crust, where the geothermal gradient is much higher (up to 200°C/km) than normal (30°C/km). These anomalies are usually primarily linked to volcanically active areas.
Once the deep geothermal resource is identified, after detailed subsurface research and exploration, drilling is carried out to reach it. It is harnessed through mature technologies in thermoelectric power plants where the extracted steam is injected into a turbine to generate electricity exported to the electrical grid, providing stability to the electrical system as green baseload power.
Being able to control the production of geothermal resources at all times and with a high-capacity factor (above 90%), geothermal electricity becomes a great renewable ally to the electrical system. This role is particularly strategic in island territories, as it can act as renewable backup for other interruptible renewables (photovoltaic, wind) and thus facilitate the islands’ transition to a 100% renewable energy mix.
Geothermal energy is distinguished from other renewables primarily by the uncertainty associated with identifying the geothermal resource in the initial phase of projects. However, once the resource is found and it is verified that its exploitation is technically and economically viable and a geothermal power plant is put into operation, the cost of the generated electricity is one of the most competitive among all renewables (LCOE between 0.04 – 0.07 €/kWh) according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). These two differential factors highlight the importance of developing mechanisms to facilitate the mitigation of this existing initial risk, as has been done in other European countries where geothermal energy is being successfully implemented.
Geothermal Energy in Spain and the Canary Islands
The geothermal potential in Spain is similar or even higher than that of neighbouring countries. However, Spain currently has a negligible level of geo-electricity development, while Germany, France, and Portugal have installed geothermal capacity for electricity generation of 40, 16, and 29 MW respectively in 2021, largely located in the insular territories of these countries.
Undoubtedly, the best-positioned region in Spain to generate electricity from geothermal energy is the Canary Islands, given their volcanic nature. While surface geothermal manifestations in the Canary Islands are not as evident as in other globally active volcanic island systems, the Canary Islands archipelago has significant geothermal potential.
Geothermal research in the Canary Islands is one step ahead compared to the rest of geothermal research on the peninsula. It has been developed since 2008 mainly through R&D&I projects led by the Technological Institute and Renewable Energies (ITER) and the Canary Islands Volcanological Institute (Involcan) over the last 15 years.
In the vision document of the Spanish Technological and Innovation Platform for Geothermal Energy (GEOPLAT) published in 2010, an electric generation potential for the Canary Islands horizon 2020 was estimated at 255 MW of installed capacity. The impact of this development would induce energy benefits by contributing to decarbonizing the mix and reducing the high extra peninsular energy costs. In addition to inducing significant environmental benefits by replacing fossil power plants, and most importantly, it would induce socioeconomic benefits in the territories through investments that would involve job generation and maintenance.
Press Conference (September 25, 2023)
Below, you can watch the press conference held on September 25, 2023, at the Tenerife Council regarding the geothermal projects being developed by the Insular Councils of Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and La Palma. Present at the conference were Juan José Martínez, the Innovation, Research and Development Advisor of the Tenerife Council; Raúl García, the Advisor of Environment, Climate, Energy and Knowledge of the Gran Canaria Council; Fernando González, the Advisor of Finance, Human Resources, Commerce, Training, Employment, Industry and Energy of the La Palma Council; and Nemesio Pérez, the Director of the Environment Area of ITER and scientific coordinator of the Canary Islands Volcanological Institute, Involcan.