Major Step for Tenerife’s Renewable Future
The Spanish government has set in motion the procedure to build the future Güímar pumped hydroelectric storage plant in Tenerife this Thursday, with an investment of more than €1 billion. The Minister for Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, announced that the Ministry for Ecological Transition has already communicated the starting signal for the future Güímar hydroelectric project to the Canary Islands Government.
Transforming a Scarred Landscape
“We will be able to recover a degraded space—some old illegal aggregate quarries whose operators are in prison—and have a hydroelectric facility similar to Gorona del Viento (in service since 2014) or Chira-Soria (currently under construction) with more than 200 megawatts,” he stated. Torres recalled that it was the Canary Islands Government, which he presided over from 2019 to 2023, that clearly backed this power station. “It is now a reality because it is taking its first steps, which will be irreversible with the starting signal for this project. We hope the Canary Islands Government will soon complete the environmental impact statements and that work can begin in 2027,” he added.
How Pumped Hydro Storage Works
As with the Chira hydroelectric project in Gran Canaria, the Güímar plant is set to boost the expansion of renewable energy in Tenerife. It does this by offering a way to store the electricity generated during periods of low demand in the form of water held in a high-altitude reservoir, which is later released through turbines to generate power when needed.
Economic and Environmental Benefits
According to details from the Ministry of Territorial Policy, the plant will have a useful life of over 75 years and will provide annual savings of €200 million compared to the island’s current electricity generation system, which is largely based on thermal power stations using imported hydrocarbons. The PSOE party notes that the project not only addresses an energy need but also one of the island’s biggest environmental impacts: the excavations and earthworks at the old Güímar quarries.
“The proposal allows for the transformation of this degraded space into a reversible water storage infrastructure, combining landscape recovery with the creation of a new energy resource. Furthermore, the area will become the largest wetland in the Canary Islands, with significant ecological value,” the party highlights.
Long-Awaited Administrative Progress
In May 2023, the Canary Islands Government formally submitted the request to the Ministry to develop the plant in accordance with the Electricity Sector Law, initiating the administrative process. Pedro Martín, senator and former president of the Tenerife Island Council, pointed out that “from the Island Council, we argued that the restoration of the quarries had to be approached with a vision for the whole island. Simply filling them in was not enough; they had to be transformed.”
For his part, José Antonio Valbuena, senator and former regional Minister for Ecological Transition, emphasised that “in May 2023 we formalised the start of the process with the Ministry. For the Spanish Government to now announce its official pronouncement is a decisive step towards making this project a reality.” Both stressed that this progress demonstrates that rigorous planning and inter-administrative cooperation can unlock strategic projects for Tenerife.
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