President Rafael Correa of Ecuador toured a new wind-energy park in the Galapagos Islands, promoting an initiative to end the pristine archipelago's dependence on diesel fuel for electricity. The three new 800-kilowatt wind turbines will reduce diesel-fuel imports to the islands by half and lower the risk of oil spills in the fragile ecosystem, project manager Jim Tolin told the Associated Press. In early 2001, a diesel tanker hit a reef off the coast of the Galapagos' eastern San Cristobal island, pouring thousands of liters of oil into the area and threatening plant and animal species not found anywhere else on the planet. While favorable winds and ocean currents helped to avert an ecological disaster, the oil spill sparked international efforts to break the islands' dependence on fossil fuels. “We're gong to fight to conserve the level of conservation of the ecosystems and biodiversity,” Correa said Monday, according to a statement from the presidential palace. The wind turbines, which cost $10.8 million, were built on San Cristobal island by a partnership of power companies from the United States, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, and Russia. Ecuador, aided by the U.N. Development Program, plans to eliminate fossil fuels from the energy supply used by the 30,000 residents of the Galapagos' five inhabited islands, developing a combination of wind, solar, and biofuel projects, Tolin said. The Galapagos Islands, about 1,000 kilometers off Ecuador's Pacific coast, are home to unique plant and animal species that inspired Charles Darwin's ideas on evolution.
