The third Vice-President of the Government and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesen, has announced in the lower house of parliament that Spain’s electricity transmission grid is set to receive an investment of more than €17 billion. This project, included in electricity planning for 2030, is currently being processed and, according to the minister, involves investment “30% higher than initially proposed and 144% higher than under the current plan”.

The announced expansion of the electricity grid will, among other targets, help drive pending investments by major multinationals, which will be guaranteed an energy supply for their projects in our country.

Meeting targets
The previous planning proposal envisaged an investment of 13.6 billion, which would make it possible to meet the country’s needs and achieve the targets of the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan 2023-2030. However, after launching apublic consultation, the proposal received 2,566 submissions that have influenced the decision to increase the planned  investment amount.

The minister says this is “the largest investment in grids in history, and that stems from our energy policy, from a country full of opportunities and a country with enormous appeal, because our energy policy has created a strong appetite for electrification: more industry, more housing and more renewables”.

Demand, generation, storage
The new plan differs from previous ones due to the greater prominence of energy demand, which accounted for 41% of the proposals received, compared with 40% for generation and 19% for storage. Following the consultation stage, the number of transmission grid connection bays serving new demand on the distribution network has as a result increased by 52% compared with the original proposal, to 300; the number of bays for direct consumption from the transmission grid has grown by 12%, to 162; and the number of planned bays for rail corridors and port electrification has risen by 75%, to 59.

Following the public consultation stage, the number of substations has also increased by 17%, to 193. The length of planned power lines has grown by 11%, to 6,706 kilometres, alongside a 6% increase in the length of uprated existing networks, to 8,164 kilometres.

^{Photo: Miteco}