Climate change effects in the insular resource potential wind: Insights from Gran Canaria

Abstract

Environmental balance is increasingly demanding that energy production should depend less and less on fossil fuels and more and more on renewable energies. One of the most important renewable energy sources is the production of energy by wind turbines, which depend on wind conditions. The current energy matrix of the island of Gran Canaria, year 2023, is mainly composed of two sources: a) Energy produced by renewables, where wind energy with 295 MW and solar energy with 85 MW represent 35.22% of the installed power, and b) Energy produced by fossil fuels, used in thermal power stations with 700.89 MW, which represents the remaining 64.78%. Climate change can have a direct influence on energy production by means of wind turbines, as it affects wind conditions. Trade winds are wind currents that blow almost constantly during the summer in the northern hemisphere and more irregularly in the winter. The historical data of the last 20 years have been analyzed, and a projection has been made for the next 20 years, resulting in projected reductions in wind energy yield from 11.23% to 21.36% for isolated wind turbines, while densely configured wake-affected turbines may experience substantially larger exploratory aerodynamic penalties under adverse directional wind shifts.