El Hierro Island in the Canary Archipelago, a pioneer in renewable energies
El Hierro, the smallest volcanic island in the Canary Archipelago, holds the distinction of being a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve and Geopark. Notably, it recently achieved a significant milestone as the first island worldwide to sustainably operate for 28 consecutive days using exclusively wind and hydro power. This achievement was in part made possible thanks to Gorona del Viento, a hydro-wind power plant operating on the island, which reached full operational capacity in July 2015. Since its inception, this plant has played a pivotal role in seamlessly integrating renewable energy sources into the local electricity grid.
This image of El Hierro was acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 9 December.
Among the many data sets and products provided by Copernicus, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) supports the renewable energy sector by providing historical data (wind, solar and hydro) and energy-related forecasts (capacity factors, demand, volatility) at regional and national scale in Europe.
