Endesa is finalizing the reform of the Catalan section of the high-tension line that connects the neighborhood of Magraners in Lleida and Altorricón, in Huesca, 17 kilometers between the municipalities of Lleida, Alguaire, Almacelles, Alpicat and Torrefarrera.
“The new installation will reduce micro-outages due to weather issues and by installing birdlife systems with separation of conductors, we will also have fewer incidents of large birds on the line and fewer incidents with customers,” explained the Endesa high voltage technician in Lleida. , Victor Briones, in Almacelles, where the workers replaced one of the towers this Tuesday.
The mayor of Almacelles, Joan Bosch, has shown his confidence in this reform to reduce micro-cuts in the municipality.
“At the City Council we have a registry that in the end we use a lot because the insurance companies called us in case of equipment breakage of household appliances,” he says. He says that insurers used to call the council to check whether a power outage had actually occurred or not when they received notification from the insured person.
The renovation of the line has consisted of replacing supports, most of them cement and some metal, with new ones, all metal, with a more robust design which, according to the company, reduces the number of towers, which goes from 133 to 82, reducing the environmental impact.
The renovation includes the change of all the line wiring and the renewal of all the infrastructure insulators. The new elements are longer to increase isolation distances and protect large birds.
The works, with a planned investment of 2.4 million euros, began in April 2022, and are, according to Endesa, one of the company's most ambitious projects in Lleida.
The company has also acted on a branch of the main line, which goes to the Raimat substation. The intervention, which Endesa defines as “of great environmental value”, is aimed at protecting storks, an action that is widespread in the Ponent network.
The installation has insulating covers to prevent when these birds fly or use the heads of the towers to rest, they may suffer any type of electrical incident when spreading their wings.
The electricity company assures that, with these interventions, it wants to reinforce the facilities against the increase in demand that may occur in the future as a result of the increase in the use of electricity produced from renewable energies to reduce the use of technologies that emit CO2.
The reform of the high-voltage power line will continue in the Aragonese part, according to Endesa, although this new investment does not yet have a schedule.
