The Canary Islands Government's Directorate General of Energy has issued the final resolution granting administrative authorization to Marina South Beach, SL, a subsidiary of the Satocan business corporation, to carry out the hybridization project with storage at the Punta Tenefé Wind Farm. The infrastructure, located in the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, in southern Gran Canaria, will have an installed capacity of 2,2 MW and a storage capacity of 4,84 MWh. The signatures of Director General Alberto Hernández Suárez and the technical team of the Directorate General validate a budgeted investment of €593.686,78.
The financial and technical operation is part of the strategy to optimize mature energy assets in the archipelago. The Punta Tenefé Wind Farm currently operates with an installed capacity of 5,4 MW. The addition of a battery storage system will stabilize the flow of energy to the e-distribution grid of Redes Digitales, SLU, by capturing surplus generation during peak wind hours and feeding it into the system during periods of higher demand. This hybridization does not alter the maximum authorized evacuation capacity at the connection point, maximizing the yield per square meter of rural land occupied.
The technological deployment relies on the installation of two prefabricated battery containers with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells. The configuration includes two 1.500 kVA transformer substations, responsible for stepping up the DC voltage to 20 kV for transmission. The evacuation scheme is completed with a 32-meter underground medium-voltage line to the newly constructed Protection, Measurement, and Control Center, subsequently connecting via a 64-meter line to the existing delivery facilities of the original wind farm.
The breakdown of the construction budget, set at €593.686,78, reflects the cost efficiency achieved by utilizing existing network infrastructure. With the civil works confined to the perimeter of the operational park, the investment is concentrated almost entirely on the cost of electrochemical equipment and power inverter systems. This approach allows for the amortization of the original connection costs and reduces the cost per megawatt-hour stored compared to new (greenfield) plants.
The project's environmental viability was approved by the General Directorate of Environmental Quality, which determined that the hybridization will not generate significant adverse effects on the semi-arid environment of El Matorral. The report exempts the developer from undergoing a standard environmental impact assessment on the condition that strict controls are implemented regarding noise and electromagnetic emissions. Marina South Beach will undertake the obligation to conduct acoustic audits and low-frequency field measurements at the CEIP El Matorral school, the closest sensitive population point to the storage facility, guaranteeing a limit of 10 μT in school areas.
The sector-specific requirements included in the project file condition the construction phase on compliance with the conservation guidelines of the Gran Canaria Island Council. The Historical Heritage Service has mandated continuous on-site archaeological monitoring by qualified technicians to prevent any risk of disturbing archaeological remains in the subsoil. Furthermore, the landscape integration requirements stipulated by the Territorial Policy Service require that the color schemes of the industrial containers blend with the natural environment and that a comprehensive dismantling plan be submitted at the end of the electrochemical cells' life cycle.
