Canary Island to be powered solely by renewables (wind & hydro)

[Shallah Kali]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070320/sc_afp/spainenergyalternative

As part of a plan through to 2009, El Hierro will soon be able to rely on a combination of hydroelectricity and wind power to generate its electricity, the industry ministry said.

"El Hierro will be the first island in the world totally supplied by renewable energy," the ministry said, without specifying when the scheme would actually be up and running.

{snip}

Interior Minister Joan Clos Tuesday said the government would be adopting a range of incentive measures to encourage windfarms.

Spain, where the energy market was deregulated in 1998, is second only to Germany in Europe in terms of installed wind power capacity, at 8,155 MW in December 2004, compared with 14,000 MW for Germany.

[robinlynne]

1. second island. There is a Danish island which is powered 100% by renewable and has

been for a while. They have one central water heater for everyone, huge, powered by burning straw. the replanting of the straw makes up for the polution caused by the burning of the straw.