It is still early in the morning but there are already some young people taking a few shots at the basket on the Raval basketball court in Terenci Moix square, in memory of the renowned Barcelona writer. Underneath the pitch is a large Endesa electrical substation, the one on Valldonzella street, which is expected to come into operation partially in June. Construction has not been an easy task. There are three floors with a depth of up to 15 meters underground and the water level, which has meant using special work techniques. The company considers this infrastructure key, with which it will work in a network with three other electrical substations located in Paral·lel, the Escola Industrial and Arc de Triomf.
"This new substation is not only important because of its location, but also by connecting it to the network when a fault occurs from the rest of the substations and power lines, we are able to supply the citizen while we are repairing the fault", highlighted this Wednesday Marcos Lalueza, head of Endesa's Barcelonès territorial unit, during a visit to the media at this new facility.
The Raval substation works in different phases. For now, the first two have been completed. Civil works and the construction of medium voltage booths that will enable the distribution of energy to the population. A third phase scheduled to end in June will consist of bringing the medium voltage lines to the distributor, which will allow partial commissioning by then.
From here, there will be two more phases. On the one hand, introducing large transformers into holes that are already prepared and, on the other hand, bringing energy through cables that Red Eléctrica will build. When these future actions are carried out, for which there is not yet a fixed calendar, the substation will work at full capacity with a capacity between 50,000 and 70,000 supply points, a range of about 150,000 citizens.
In parallel, another substation is being built in the Free Zone which is estimated to be finished next year to provide energy coverage to the new neighborhood of the Marina del Prat Vermell and also to reinforce the supply to the port. In another area of transformation of the city, such as Sagrera, another substation is planned. To these must be added the 24 substations that provide service to the city, a dozen of them in the municipal area, and others installed in the periphery, such as in Collblanc, Badalona or Santa Coloma de Gramenet.
These interventions are part of a plan agreed with the Barcelona City Council through which the company will invest almost 46 million euros in the city this year to reinforce the electricity grid. In addition to improving the service, one of its main axes is promoting the electrification of demand with the aim of accelerating decarbonisation in the fight against climate change.
Other actions will be aimed at digitizing the network with the installation of sensors to better obtain and manage information when making decisions. In this regard, the company estimates that 74% of the city's medium voltage transformation centers will be equipped this year with this technology.
