Isabela Island Hybrid Solar

Within the objective of Ecuador‘s "Zero Fossil Fuel Initiative for the Galapagos Islands" a new hybrid power generation system was installed in Isabela island located in the Galapagos Archipelago. It is successfully in operation since October 2018.

This future-oriented power plant makes an effective contribution to reducing the carbon footprint of the island's electricity generation. Five containerized engine gensets with a total output of 1.6 MW are designed to run on jatropha vegetable oil harvested and produced on Ecuador’s mainland, with diesel fuel as back-up. During sunshine periods all engine generators can be completely shut down while the island’s grid load is then served by a 1 MWp photovoltaic power plant in combination with a 660 kW / 330 kWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system and power inverters linked to an Energy Management System. As a result, average fuel consumption is intelligently reduced by 155,000 litres each month, with CO₂ emissions reduced by 410 tons each month. In a subsequent step the PV-field and the battery energy storage system will be extended to further reduce fuel consumption.