New 103 million euro cable will supply Tenerife with electricity from La Gomera

A single electricity system connecting the islands of Tenerife and La Gomera will soon be a reality, once the EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) has been obtained later this month, to start the project for an underwater cable 42 kilometres long, 36 of which will be along the sea bed, that will join the two islands like an umbilical cord, similar to what is already happening with Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.

La Gomera is to become an exporter of electricity to Tenerife, by exceeding the 8 megawatts (MW) it needs per day with the start-up of five wind farms, three of which which are already built in El Verodal in San Sebastián, which would initially generate almost 12 MW.

Sources from Red Eléctrica Española and the Ministry of Ecological Transition confirmed that the environmental impact report will go to the Governing Council this month, "after six months of intense work by the Ministry", highlighting that the underwater cable between Lanzarote and Fuerteventura took five years to develop.

The connection project between the El Palmar power plant in San Sebastián de La Gomera, and the Chío substation in Guía de Isora, was presented in February last year by the President of the Canary Islands Government, Ángel Víctor Torres, and the president of Red Eléctrica Española, Beatriz Corredor.

Torres described the project as "a key piece in promoting the energy transition of the Canary Islands", adding that "it is proposed within the European and national objectives of decarbonisation of the economy and the greater integration of renewable energies until achieving a 100% green electricity sector in 2040 in the Canary Islands, ten years before the date set by the EU.”

The president of the Tenerife Cabildo, Pedro Martín, welcomes the new project saying that “the electrical system in the Canary Islands is fragile. For this reason, all the interconnection initiatives mean undoubted improvements for the islands”.

The investment to make this inter-island connection possible is 103 million euros and will take approximately 2 years to complete.

La Gomera will be the first island to produce more renewable energy than it consumes in a year, thus avoiding having to resort to other more expensive fossil fuel generating systems and contaminants.