Saint Helena is a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean, around 2,000 kilometres west of Africa, roughly halfway between South America and South Africa.
The British Overseas Territory is about 16 by 8 kilometres in size and home to around 4,255 residents.
Saint Helena is very remote - in fact until 2016, it was only accessible by ship.
Transport capacity has historically been (and continues to be) limited, and the terrain is steep and difficult to access.
Every technical installation here posed a huge logistical challenge.
For many years, all materials, from equipment and machinery to the diesel for the generators, had to be shipped in. This was expensive, risky, and not always reliable.
Ecoways engineers had to fly to Cape Town and then take a five-day voyage by ship just to reach the island.
As living standards rose, energy consumption increased, but electricity generation remained completely dependent on diesel generators.
Number of small wind turbines
Rotor diameter (meters)
Total installed capacity (kWh)
The government had a clear vision: Saint Helena was to become a green and independent energy model.
But how could the island meet rising power demand locally and in a sustainable way?
The answer: wind energy – reliable, local, and future-proof.
Up to 2014, the island’s power came from six wind turbines and six ageing diesel generators.
All diesel was shipped in, and electricity was distributed via an 11 kV medium-voltage network.
The first three wind turbines, installed back in 1998, produced up to 600,000 kWh per year of clean energy.
Since then, electricity demand has doubled, driving the expansion of wind power.
Today, Saint Helena’s daily power supply is based on a hybrid system combining 12 WES 80 wind turbines with four diesel generators, all controlled by a single central switchboard.
Together, the installations produce around 2.4 million kWh of clean electricity per year, saving the island roughly € 1 million in diesel costs annually.
