Situated on the equator approximately 1,000 kilometers off the coast of Ecuador, the Galapagos remote volcanic archipelago remains much as it was millions of years ago. Over the course of centuries, animal and plant life from the Americas reached the Galapagos Islands and gradually evolved into new forms. Many of its species are found nowhere else on earth. San Cristobal is one of the four inhabited islands of the Galapagos Islands. In 1978 UNESCO declared the Galapagos a World Heritage Site.
San Cristobal Island, previously known as Chatham, is the easternmost island in the Galapagos. It is the site of the only permanent fresh water stream in the archipelago and is also where Darwin first went ashore in 1835. San Cristobal has a population of approximately 6,000 residents. San Cristobal is also the site of the oldest surviving settlement in the Galapagos, El Progresso, established in 1869. It has since been overshadowed by a second town located on the southeast coast, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, the capital of the Galapagos Province and port for San Cristobal. This is one of two points of departure for tour boats operating in the islands and nearly half the islands' 50,000 annual tourists pass through its airport, which has operated since the mid-1980s.
Approximately 85% of San Cristobal is part of Galapagos National Park (PNG); a lower percentage when compared to other islands in the Galapagos. This is due to the large agricultural sector in the highlands established near the original town of El Progresso.
The wind turbines will be located in this agricultural area, outside of the PNG, near El Progresso on the hill called El Tropezon.
View from El Tropezón to north