ENVIRONMENT:
Galápagos Islands
in Search of Clean
Energy
By Stephen Leahy*
TORONTO (Tierramérica) -
Ecuador has taken the
first step towards
ending the oil
dependence of its
Galápagos Islands, in
the eastern Pacific
Ocean, with the official
opening of a 10.8
million dollar wind
energy facility on the
island of San Cristóbal.
Ecuador's President
Rafael Correa toured the
facility as part of a
celebration of the 500th
anniversary of the
discovery of the
Galápagos, and proposed
to declare the islands
fossil fuel free by
2015.
Located 1,000 kilometres
off the coast of
Ecuador, the archipelago
comprises 17 small and
13 large islands that
are home to 30,000
people and visited by
more than 120,000
tourists each year.
Nearly everything is
imported from the
mainland, including vast
quantities of diesel
fuel for energy and
transport. In 2001, a
tanker ship struck a
reef off the coast of
San Cristóbal, one of
the main islands,
spilling 150,000 gallons
of fuel into the ocean.
Fortunately, currents
carried the destructive
fuel out to sea, and
away from the other
islands, saving vast
numbers of coastal and
marine plant and animal
species that exist
nowhere else in the
world.
This close call with
environmental
catastrophe led Canada,
France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Russia and the
United States to form a
partnership with
Ecuador, the United
Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) and
nine of the world's
largest electric
companies to build the
San Cristóbal Wind
Project.
"Fifty percent of the
island's energy now
comes from the three 800
kilowatt turbines," says
Jim Tolin, project
manager.
Diesel supplies the rest
of the energy for San
Cristóbal's 6,100
residents, Tolin told
Tierramérica.
Approximately half of
the investment in the
wind project came from
the U.S.-based American
Electric Power, while
Ecuador contributed 3.2
million dollars, and
another million came
from different entities
of the United Nations.
The partners established
a trust to help finance
the operation and
maintenance of the wind
power facility.
Tourism is booming,
making the Galápagos one
of the fastest growing
local economies in Latin
America. But that growth
is seriously threatening
its unique ecology,
which had remained
isolated from the rest
of the world for
thousands of years.
Although 97 percent of
the archipelago is
protected and was
declared a World
Heritage site by UNESCO
(UN Educational,
Scientific and Cultural
Organization), a report
from that agency warns
that tourism, illegal
immigration and fishing
and invasive species are
putting the Galápagos at
serious risk.
As a result, President
Correa declared a state
of emergency for the
islands, appointed a new
provincial governor and
restricted flights,
tourism and residence
permits. A new photo
identification transit
control card will be
required for all
visitors in 2008.
The San Cristóbal Wind
Project went through
extensive environmental
assessments and
modifications to
minimize the impact on
the rare creatures of
the islands.
New locations for the
three wind turbines had
to be found when it was
determined that they
would be too close to
the nesting areas of the
highly endangered
long-winged Galápagos
petrel (Pterodroma
phaeopygia).
The petrels spend the
daylight hours fishing
at sea and only return
to the island at night.
Until now little was
known about their flight
paths. "We had people
spend months with night
vision goggles to
observe the night-time
flight paths of the
petrels," Tolin said.
An independent committee
assessed the data and
helped determined the
safest locations for the
turbines. Residents and
tourist operators were
also involved in finding
a site that is shrouded
in mist much of the year
to minimize the visual
impact of the turbines,
he said.
Three kilometres of
transmission lines were
also buried underground
to safeguard the birds.
No bats or birds have
been killed since the
turbines began operating
last October, according
to the project manager.
"From day one, the
overriding concern was
the need to protect this
invaluable place and its
incredible
biodiversity," says
Michael G. Morris, chief
executive of American
Electric Power.
The San Cristóbal Wind
Project is the first
stage of an umbrella
programme supported by
Ecuador and UNDP that
will eventually bring
renewable electricity --
hybrid wind-diesel with
some photovoltaic
(solar) -- to the
archipelago's five
inhabited islands.
Last week, the
construction of a 3.2
megawatt wind-solar
energy facility with
biofuel powered
generators was announced
for the island of Santa
Cruz.
Energy savings will also
be part of the overall
plan. Old refrigerators
use a huge amount of
energy and it would be
cost-effective to
replace these with new,
more efficient ones,
suggests Tolin. He also
recommends replacing
diesel vehicles with
electric-powered
vehicles that would be
charged overnight when
there is plenty of
excess capacity of
wind-generated
electricity.
But one thorny problem
for the quest to end the
Galápagos oil addiction
is that the price of
diesel fuel is
subsidized by the
Ecuadorian government,
so it costs the same
there as it would in
Quito.
"Remove the subsidies
and electricity from
wind turbines would be
competitive," Tolin
says.
(*Stephen Leahy is an
IPS correspondent.
Originally published by
Latin American
newspapers that are part
of the Tierramérica
network. Tierramérica is
a specialised news
service produced by IPS
with the backing of the
United Nations
Development Programme
and the United Nations
Environment Programme.)
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