Azores Island the Target of German Energy Experiment

There’s a German company out there that’s trying to supply an entire community’s energy from renewable resources alone.

The company calls itself „Younicos.“

It chose an island off the coast of Portugal to carry out its tests.

It’s called Graciosa, and it’s the second smallest Azores island.

About 4,500 people live there and currently they are relying almost entirely on imported energy.

„Younicos“ wants to bring change. The company is relying on wind and solar power, domestically gathered, to supply the island’s needs.

[Clemens Triebel, Founder of „Younicos“]:

„We would have a place in the world where already today, the energy supply with renewables would be ensured one hundred percent, without the people living there having to suffer from poorer quality or other disadvantages compared to other industrialised countries.“

With all renewable energy systems, one of the most important issues to consider is storage.

The company has taken care of that challenge with the world’s largest battery.

[Clemens Triebel, Founder of „Younicos“]:

„This is the world’s largest battery and the battery that lasts the longest and is the most reliable. It lasts 15 years and even more and we brought this battery to Europe in order to demonstrate that already today, it is possible to supply our grids with accumulators and to show that on islands, it is possible to use a high percentage of renewables.“

The Berlin-based company believes that all homes should be energy self-sufficient and independent. This is already the case in some German households.

[Clemens Triebel, Founder of „Younicos“]:

„Our vision is that there are no large power plants with large accumulators; our vision is that the whole thing is decentralized – such as photovoltaic with twelve gigawatts already being produced in German homes. It should remain in the home.“

The project, bringing domestic renewable energy to the tiny island of Azores, is due to be completed in 2012.

Mr. Triebel hopes that no petroleum-laden supertanker will ever have to stop there again.

Foto: NTD