Tenerife Launches Emergency Power Plant to Bolster Grid Stability
The Canary Islands government has commissioned a new backup power plant in Tenerife to bolster grid stability and prevent future blackouts while long-term infrastructure upgrades are underway.
The Canary Islands government has launched a backup power plant in La Campana, Tenerife, to prevent potential blackouts. This move follows a series of grid failures in recent years, including a major outage on La Gomera in 2023, which highlighted the vulnerability of the islands' aging electrical infrastructure.
The new facility, operated by the company Sampol, uses five diesel generators to provide nine megawatts of emergency power. While this is only a temporary solution, it serves as a "lifeboat" for the grid while the government works to modernize thermal power plants and transition toward renewable energy and better storage systems.
During the commissioning ceremony, regional president Fernando Clavijo and Minister of Ecological Transition Mariano Hernández Zapata emphasized the importance of this safety net. Government Delegate Anselmo Pestana also noted that 400 million euros in state funding is being invested to strengthen the grid, which currently requires between 1,200 and 1,300 megawatts of power daily.
For Sampol, this project marks its entry into the Canarian energy market after 20 years of trying to break into a sector long dominated by a single provider. The company plans to install four more plants across Tenerife and Fuerteventura, eventually bringing its total backup capacity to 60 megawatts.
Local authorities view this as a vital step toward a more reliable energy system. These improvements are intended to stabilize the grid in the short term, eventually allowing for the integration of a new submarine cable between Tenerife and La Gomera and ensuring long-term energy security for the archipelago.