The water and energy sector in southern Gran Canaria is moving towards operational self-sufficiency with the development of a new renewable energy generation complex. The company Elmasa Tecnología del Agua has initiated the administrative process for the installation of a self-consumption photovoltaic park with surplus energy intended to power the Maspalomas I seawater desalination plant, located in the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana. The project, registered under file number ER240033, has a construction budget of €1.151.213.
The Directorate General for Energy has opened the public consultation period for the project, allowing interested parties to submit comments for a period of thirty working days. The initiative is part of the strategy to decarbonize energy-intensive industrial processes in the islands, directly linking photovoltaic production with critical infrastructure for the water supply of the southern region.
The renewable energy plant design involves utilizing two separate plots of land located in Polygon 14 of San Bartolomé de Tirajana. The main plot, registered as number 93, covers an area of 8,75 hectares, plus an additional 4.057 square meters on plot 126. A fixed metal structure anchored to the ground will be deployed on this site to support a total of 3.864 bifacial photovoltaic modules manufactured by Longi Solar, model Hi-Mo 7 LR7-72HGD, with a unit power of 620 Wp.
The solar power plant will reach a peak power of 2,4 MWp under standard measurement conditions (STC), while the nominal generation power will be set at 2 MW. Energy conversion will be handled by six Sungrow string inverters, each with a power rating of 350 kW, operating at a maximum DC voltage of 1500 V and a three-phase AC voltage of 800 V.
To evacuate the generated energy to the desalination plant's internal network, the project includes the installation of a transformer, protection, and metering center equipped with 2 x 1.600 kVA equipment with a transformation ratio of 0,8 to 20 kV. From this central hub, a 20 kV medium-voltage underground line—constructed with 12/20 kV RHZ1 AL cable with a cross-section of 1 x 150 square millimeters—will run for 367 meters, ensuring the safe integration of photovoltaic production into the consumption circuits of the hydroelectric infrastructure.
