{"id":164512,"date":"2026-03-09T12:00:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T13:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canariaslife.com\/?p=164512"},"modified":"2026-10-24T08:59:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T07:59:20","slug":"the-electric-currency-of-el-hierro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canariaslife.com\/en\/la-moneda-electrica-de-el-hierro\/","title":{"rendered":"The curious story of the electric currency of El Hierro"},"content":{"rendered":"

The electric currency of El Hierro: history, myth, and energy<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, a surprising story has circulated on the internet: in the 1940s, during the post-war period, the people of El Hierro supposedly created an \u201celectric currency,\u201d paper bonds backed by the electricity of a small local power station, which were used to pay in stores and for daily wages. It's an attractive tale, but how much truth is there in it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What we know (and what we don't)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So far, we have not found any documentary sources \u2014 archives, press from the time, or economic history studies \u2014 that confirm the existence of this electric currency in El Hierro. It does not appear in reference works on the history of electricity in the Canary Islands. The most prudent approach is to consider it a modern legend, perhaps born from mixing two realities: the scarcity of money in the post-war period, when local vouchers and bonds circulated in many places in Spain, and the current fame of El Hierro as a pioneering island in energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have documents, photographs, or family memories that talk about these bonds, we would love to hear about them and update this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An island with its own electrical grid<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What is real is the energy challenge of El Hierro. Like the other islands, it has an isolated electrical system, without connection to other islands or the mainland. For decades, almost all its electricity came from a diesel engine power station, with the fuel costs and emissions that this entails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gorona del Viento: the power plant that changed history<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2014, it was inaugurated Gorona del Viento<\/strong>, a unique hydro-wind power station in the world. It works like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n