HIGH PENETRATION PV-BATTERY-BIOFUEL HYBRID SYSTEM FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT OF ZERO FOSSIL FUEL ELECTRICITY GENERATION IN THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS Rodrigo Estrella 1 , Philipp Strauss 1,5 , Martin Braun 1 4 , Samuel Karres 2 , Werner Klaus 2 , Ivan Rodriguez 2 , Adrián Moreno 3 , Alfredo Samaniego 3 ,Luis Manzano 3 1 Farunhofer IWES, Kassel (Germany) , 2 Lahmeyer International, Bad Vilbel (Germany), 3 Ministerio de Electricidad y Energía Renovable, Quito (Ecuador), 4 University of Stuttgart (Germany), 5 Distributed Energy Ressources Laboratories (DERlab) e.V. Kassel (Germany) Phone +49(0)561/7294-249, Fax +49(0)561/7294-268, E-mail: rodrigo.estrella@iwes.fraunhofer.de Abstract Situated in the Pacific Ocean some 1,000 km from the South American continent, the Galápagos Islands have been inscribed in the UNESCO world heritage since 1978. Later on, in 2007 UNESCO put the Galápagos Islands on their List of World Heritage in Danger. On 29 July 2010, the World Heritage Committee decided to remove the Galapagos Islands from the list because the Committee found significant progress had been made by Ecuador in addressing environmental problems. 1 One of the measures was the launch of the zero fossil fuels for Galápagos policy. As results of this the hybrid system project for the Isabela Island was launched. The objective of this project is the zero emission electric generation for this island by means of the use of PV power, diesel generators running on biofuels and batteries to ensure the stability of the system and to increase the PV penetration. 1. Introduction As a result of the fuel spill produced by the tankers Jessica and Taurus in 2001 and 2002, the Ecuadorian Government and the German Government through the KFW agreed the implementation of a hybrid system project to satisfy the electricity demand in Puerto Villamil at the Isabela Island in the Galapagos Archipelago which should be based only on renewable energies. Later on, in the year 2007, the Ecuadorian Government has launched the policy “Cero combustibles fósiles en las Islas Galápagos al 2020”. This policy promotes a radical change in the vision regarding the energy production in the Galapagos Islands. As part of this policy, the Ecuadorian Government remarks the necessity of developing adequate programs and projects to reduce electricity consumption and use the renewable energy resources of the Galapagos Islands with the purpose to eradicate the use of fossil fuels. This program comprises the following strategic actions: • The gradual elimination of diesel fuel as a part of the electricity generation and its substitution by solar and/or wind energy. It also included the use of bio fuel to deal with the fluctuating character of the PV and wind energy providing electric energy in a reliable way. • The gradual substitution of inefficient appliances by efficient appliances (refrigerators, AC, etc), in order to reduce the energy consumption. As a result of this policy different new projects have been launched in the different islands in order to turn the actual fossil fuel electricity generating facilities into a zero emission concept to 2020, based on the use of renewable energy resources. According to this, currently in the Galapagos islands are developing the following projects: • Baltra Island Wind Park (2,25 MW) • Baltra Island Photovoltaic Plant (0,2 MWp + energy storage 1,0 MW) • Puerto Ayora Photovoltaic Plant (1,5 MWp) on Santa Cruz Island • Interconnection system Baltra with Santa Cruz • Isabela Island Hybrid System (1,0 MWp + energy storage 0,50 MW + thermal plant 1,320 MW) • Substitution of inefficient appliances 1 http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/636