Red Eléctrica de España, the operator and transmission agent of the Spanish electricity system, will invest €7 million in the construction of a new electricity substation in the industrial estate of El Serrallo, in Grao de Castellón. The Regional Ministry of Sustainable Economy, through its General Directorate for Industry, Energy and Mines, issued a resolution yesterday declaring said facilities to be of public utility and granting Red Eléctrica the prior administrative approval and the corresponding construction permits. In this way, the regional public administration authorises the start of construction work for this 220 kV substation, which is expected to be commissioned in 2022.

This new infrastructure will be sited in the El Serrallo industrial estate in Grao de Castellón, on exactly the same property where the current electricity distribution substation is located. This project was included in the 2015-2020 Energy Planning document, approved by the Council of Ministers, to bolster the quality of the electricity supply for the chemical industries that carry out their activity in this industrial estate. Specifically, the new substation will feed the distribution network, thus providing reliability for the current electricity demand and contributing to Castellón having a more robust and efficient grid that is prepared for future industrial growth.

"The new substation represents a volume of investment that, in addition to helping strengthen the electricity supply in the area of El Serrallo, will mobilise other economic resources, generating a virtuous circle that will enable the creation of jobs and will modernise the production system," says Maite Vela, Regional Delegate for Red Eléctrica de España in the Region of Valencia.

Red Eléctrica de España guarantees that this construction will have the least environmental and visual impact on the area. With this objective in mind, the Company has designed the new 220 kV facility as a compact substation, using GIS technology and housing it inside a building so that it blends in visually with its surroundings.

The substation will be fed by a 2.5 km long 220 kV double-circuit line that will link up with the El Ingenio-La Plana line. The project for the construction of this line is currently undergoing the corresponding administrative permitting process, pending that the Environmental Impact Statement be issued. The budget for the line exceeds €4 million, with an overall planned investment for both infrastructures totalling more than €11 million.