Electricity grid in Andalucía requires a whopping investment of over 500 million euros to bring it up to standard

Last Monday's massive power outage in Spain has once again brought to the forefront all that is lacking in Andalucía's electricity transmission infrastructure, with four of the region's provinces being among the last to recover their power supply after the nationwide outage. The regional Junta government has long been calling for the modernisation of this power transmission grid, whose shortcomings hamper the possibility of developing all the electricity generation projects using renewable sources - especially solar and wind - that are in the pipeline, all because there is insufficient infrastructure to connect this energy to the rest of the country. Last Monday's power loss provided another weighty argument for this situation to be brought to the table and properly addressed, as the provinces with the least-developed electricity transmission grid took the longest to fully recover supply and return to normality - namely Jaen, Cordoba, Granada and Almeria.

Andalucía as a region suffers from a notable deficit in the density of its electricity transmission grid. According to estimates by the regional energy ministry, it is 40% below the national average, and it is in these four provinces where the shortfall is most notable. To be precise, the region has some 742 kilometres of grid per million inhabitants compared to the Spanish average of 1,242 kilometres, according to latest data available at the end of 2022.

The regional government had already developed a proposal for investment in the electricity transmission grid and was aiming to improve infrastructure in critical areas. Now, after last Monday's unfortunate event, the Junta has called for these investments to be speeded up, which should be included in the regional 2025-2030 energy plan, and for the development of the regulatory framework to be accelerated in order to promote storage systems in renewable generation plants. The aim is that these plants, in which Andalucía aspires to be a leader due to the climate and weather lending themselves to renewables, can be managed. Also, that their usefulness is not limited to feeding electricity into the grid only when there is sun or wind, which is currently the case, according to Jorge Paradela, the regional minister for this area.

Among the regulatory changes that the Junta de Andalucía is calling for are the elimination of the cap on investment in networks, both in transmission (0.065% of GDP) and distribution (0.13% of GDP), and the use of European funds to accelerate the development of the grid network without increasing electricity bills.

Back in April the regional government submitted to the Ministry for ecological transition in Madrid and Red Eléctrica (the company responsible for the national grid) an investment proposal for the development of the electricity transmission grid in Andalucía for the period 2025-2030 based on four premises. The first is to take advantage of the abundant renewable resources available in the region, both in the two currently most developed - solar and wind - as well as those that are still less developed, but which have great potential, like solar thermal and biomass.

The second premise is to address the growing demands for electrification and electric mobility, the green hydrogen economy and industrial projects that require high consumption. The third seeks to strengthen interconnections with other Spanish regions for the deployment of renewable energy production and new industrial developments. The fourth premise, to which the Junta attaches great importance, is to achieve the location of investment and employment driving initiatives that help retain and even boost population, that also give structure to the region, thereby favouring its socio-economic development.

Based on these objectives, the regional government requested that central government build six substations, 88 new positions (including substation extensions) and eight new double-circuit lines in the transmission grid as the key actions needing to be done to the electricity transmission grid. This would involve an investment of 544 million euros to be executed in the period between 2025 and 2030.

Although the Junta's request includes investments in all eight Andalusian provinces, it has requested infrastructure projects that have a significant impact on four geographical areas with the greatest investment gap. These places, which account for 35% of Andalucía's surface area, cover 199 municipalities, including just one provincial capital city - Jaen - and 23 municipalities with over 15,000 inhabitants, thus affecting 18% of the regional population.

These four areas to be targeted for improvement include the Baza-Úbeda-Manzanares connection (Castilla-La Mancha) in the province of Jaen to support the distribution and generation of renewables in the south of Jaen (Mazuelos) as it is one of the areas with the least infrastructure. The second is the Lancha-Peñarroya-Maguilla connection (Extremadura) in the province of Cordoba, where there are also requests for developments in Los Pedroches and Alto Guadiato as well as a new interconnection axis with Seville. Next is the Costa de la Luz-Puebla de Guzmán-Brovales (Extremadura) connection in the province of Huelva for renewable energy exchange and to meet the demand of the Faja Pirítica. Lastly, the Arcos-Cartuja connection and other actions to improve security of supply and to respond to industrial and renewable energy projects in Cadiz province.

In addition to the aforementioned infrastructure projects, investment requests have also been made for the other provinces of Andalucía. In Malaga and Granada the Junta has requested a new line to improve system security and to meet the growth of the Axarquia and Costa Tropical areas. For Seville, a new 400 kV structural connection that will increase the grid meshing, unlock new renewable evacuation capacity and enable access to new industrial demands. In Almeria, the Junta is calling for implementation of the actions already committed to in the previous plan, actions to strengthen the grid in the province that have not yet been executed, in addition to the expansion of positions in several substations to serve renewable energy and industrial projects.

These 544 million euros that the Junta deems a necessary investment are in addition to the value of the strategic infrastructures that the central ministry will undertake in the region, as with those required for railway development by Adif. Moreover, this money is not part of the actions contemplated for Andalucía in the current 2021-2026 energy planning that have not yet been implemented, which represents an estimated investment of 282 million euros.

As key new features to prioritise its actions in this new investment period of 2025-2030, the energy ministry in Spain has established a supply guarantee for new energy storage projects, for initiatives aimed at decarbonising industrial activity and those focused on developing the industrial value chain. It also establishes that new transmission grid developments must address territorial cohesion, the demographic challenge and a just transition, a criterion of particular relevance to Andalucía. These new developments are in addition to the priority established in the previous planning to evacuate renewable generation to advance the energy system transition.

Consequently, the regional government has taken into account the Ministry's proposal, which is also aligned with Andalucía's energy industry policy with its commitment to the deployment of renewables. The region is the third in Spain for green energy generation with a total of 11,803 megawatts (MW).