The State plans to increase the capacity of the electrical grid in Catalonia by 50% by 2030

BarcelonaThe Spanish government plans to increase the capacity of the electricity grid in Catalonia by 50% by 2030. Thus, an additional 3,800 megawatts (MW) will be added to the electrical system, which will allow for meeting the growing demand from both private individuals and various investments in public infrastructure. This increase is the portion assigned to Catalonia of the Pedro Sánchez executive's plan to improve the electricity grid across the entire State, which includes investments worth 17 billion euros in all autonomous communities over the next four years.

plan by Pedro Sánchez's executive to improve the electricity grid throughout the country, which includes investments worth 17 billion euros in all autonomous communities over the next four years.

"There is a before and an after" for this plan, the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, assured this Thursday. Paneque has met with the Secretary of State for Energy, Joan Groizard, to specify the electrical planning in Catalonia within the state plan. The plan provides for the creation of new electrical substations—and the expansion of existing ones—to serve both current and new consumers, but also to ensure the supply for new infrastructure and business projects that will require high levels of energy consumption.

Among these projects are, for example, the construction of a new substation to serve the two health campuses of the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona and the Hospital Josep Trueta in Girona. In fact, Paneque and Groizard spoke to the media from the land that this second campus is set to occupy in Salt (Gironès).

Furthermore, the minister highlighted other projects that will be carried out thanks to this expansion of the electricity grid. One of the main ones is the construction of a substation for the artificial intelligence (AI) gigafactory in Móra d'Ebre, which is being promoted by the State in a consortium with the Catalan government and a group of private companies led by Telefónica, ACS, and Banco Santander.

The representatives of the state government and the Generalitat have also agreed to include in the plan the electrical connections for the new desalination plant on the Costa Brava, the Torreblanca-Quatre Pilans industrial estate in Lleida, and the hub for the audiovisual sector, Catalunya Mediacity, in Sant Adrià de Besòs (Barcelonès), and to bring 400 kilovolts (kV) to the port of Barcelona. Likewise, a new substation named Químico will be created to increase the capacity of the petrochemical industrial estate in Tarragona and another one in the Cardener river basin, in Central Catalonia.

Improving in renewables

"We are preparing the grid so that more energy can reach it and also so that more is generated through renewable sources," said Paneque. Furthermore, the two governments have agreed on what should be the "major entry points for electricity in Catalonia," she added.

Groizard explained that the investments will serve to improve "the extra-high voltage grid of Red Eléctrica," the public operator of the transmission network, as well as to "strengthen the distribution network that reaches end consumers." With these new investments, the two administrations seek to ensure that "Catalonia can advance in renewables and electrical storage" and "respond to industrial aspirations" and infrastructure that improves public services, the secretary of state added.

The state-owned company Red Eléctrica (REE) will be in charge of the construction of transport infrastructure and substations, while the connections to consumers will be the responsibility of electricity distribution companies, as is customary. Paneque has announced the creation of a "periodic monitoring commission" with distribution companies to track compliance with schedules. In this regard, Groizard indicated that "the idea is for this new planning to be approved before the end of the year and for the projects that are part of it to begin to be implemented."