The Melina Orosa Hospital (El Hospital Molina Orosa) in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands has launched a 1002-kW geothermal facility that provides air conditioning, heating, and domestic hot water to the facility. This is the first installation of its kind in a public hospital in the Canary Islands and is a major step forward in the decarbonization strategy of the Canary Islands Health Services (Servicio Canario de la Salud / SCS).
The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, the Minister of Health, Esther Monzón, and the Minister of Ecological Transition and Energy, Mariano H. Zapata, recently visited the new low-enthalpy geothermal plant, expressing support for the project and remarking on its significance for the region’s sustainability and energy security efforts.
“The Canary Islands aim to be at the forefront of the ecological transition, starting with public healthcare. This hospital exemplifies how technological innovation can improve the comfort of patients and staff while simultaneously reducing our carbon footprint. Today, Lanzarote demonstrates that geothermal energy is also a key part of the Islands’ energy future,” said Fernando Clavijo.
Proposed by the Engineering Department of the Lanzarote Health Management and built starting 2024, the plant will supply the hospital with approximately 2.7 GWh of thermal energy annually – roughly 1.87 GWh for heating, 0.58 GWh for cooling, and 0.22 GWh for domestic hot water. The installation multiplies by more than a factor of 5 the energy obtained compared to the electricity consumed, making it a very efficient heating and cooling solution and displacing substantial emissions related to the use of fossil fuels.
The project was built in two phases. The first phase consisted of drilling four wells equipped with pumps located sixty meters deep, capable of recirculating flows of up to 230 cubic meters of water per hour. The second phase involved upgrading the thermal installation, which includes two high-efficiency heat pumps to utilize this geothermal energy in the air conditioning, heating, and domestic hot water systems.
A total of EUR 1.23 million was invested for the project, about EUR 651,000 of which was co-financed by the Regional Ministry of Ecological Transition and Energy through a grant program announced in 2022 for renewable thermal energy installations across various sectors of the economy. The SCS then contributed around EUR 582,000 to realize the project.
With the commissioning of this plant, the Molina Orosa Hospital has made significant progress towards improving the building’s energy rating and positioning itself as one of the pioneering hospitals in Spain in the field of geothermal energy utilization. The SCS also describes the project as a full replicable installation that can be deployed in other hospitals in the Canary Islands.
“Geothermal energy is one of the greatest allies for decarbonizing the Canary Islands, especially in areas like Lanzarote. This project demonstrates how energy and health policies can go hand in hand to reduce emissions, stabilize consumption, and make intelligent use of our natural resources,” said Zapata.
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Source: Gobierno de Canarias
