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This research presents a completely decarbonized system structured with renewable energies for the fragile ecosystem of the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, with a horizon to the year 2050. The transition process begins with clear legal actions and allocating economic resources that clearly promote a change in the energy matrix and the transition would be achieved until the year 2050. The Galapagos Islands are the second largest marine reserve on the planet, declared a World Heritage Site in 1978 for UNESCO. The archipelago, a beautiful ecological attraction, has tourism as its main economic source. The biggest problem is in the supply of energy that mainly comes from fossil fuels, in addition to that, the smell of fuel in several places is out of tune with the harmonious nature and its species. The efforts began to be noticed when in the Archipelago the new implementations of renewable energy began to become a reality with the purpose of stopping using fossil fuels. In this sense, there is the potential to take advantage of the resources available in specific sites, especially the photovoltaic and wind solar considered in the National Plan All a Life. The change in the productive matrix from the national level also implies a change in demand, including at the transportation level with the use of electric vehicles and the use of electric stoves in homes. The purpose is that energy services in the Galapagos Islands progressively increase, on the one hand, replacing fossil fuels and on the other, supplying the growing demand with a view to 2050, taking advantage of renewable energies until reaching 100%. • The scenario outlined is 100% renewable energy by 2050 in the Galapagos Islands. •The Galapagos archipelago has great renewable energy potential. •The decarbonization in Galapagos will have a positive impact on the socioeconomic and environmental aspects. •Decarbonization is feasible by 2050 depending on the economic situation. •The electricity system of Galapagos will allow it to maintain its status as a Cultural Heritage of Humanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aluminum industry consumes about 4% of global electricity but requires stable power supply as long power outages are catastrophic. We investigate how the aluminum industry can maximally integrate variable renewable energy resources while remaining competitive. This can be achieved by (i) modulating production and (ii) utilizing storage. We develop an hourly linear optimization system for integrating variable energy sources and apply it for identifying the optimal configuration and operational profile for UAE-located smelter. Operating with the optimal renewable energy and fossil mix and a novel power modulation scheme, consistently reduces costs between 2.2% and 5.3% for fuel prices ranging between $2.4-$8 per MMBtu and integrating more than 40% of power by solar PV without storage. This reduces process emissions intensity from 5.13 to 2.87 tCO 2 /tAl. In all cases of RE integration, modulation confers a significant cost advantage with savings ranging from 7.5% to 10% for the fuel price range. Operating the smelter with 100% renewable energy portfolio could be achieved by installing 5.4 GWp single-axis tracking PV, 0.2 GWp wind, 18 GWh of battery storage and 47 GWh of hydrogen storage but with a 26% premium for 2020 high gas-price system costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]