Red Eléctrica de España has commissioned two new 400 kV substation bays corresponding to the project for the enlargement of the Hernani substation (Guipúzcoa) in order to strengthen the electricity supply for the high-speed rail network in the Basque Country. This action, included within the 2015-2020 Electricity Transmission Grid Development Plan, has involved an investment of around €2 million.

The two new substation bays for the line circuits which connect the 400 kV Hernani substation switchyard to the transmission grid, aim to increase the capacity of this substation to enable it to supply the electricity needed for the high-speed train and thus strengthen the electricity supply for the Bilbao-Vitoria-San Sebastián rail network (also known as the ‘Basque Y’) which forms part of the planned connections between the Basque Country and Madrid that are promoted by the Spanish state-owned railway infrastructure manager (ADIF).

With the commissioning of these two new bays in the Hernani substation, Red Eléctrica completes an action started in 2018 that will provide the Basque region the reliability and security of supply needed for it to expand and develop its railway network.  

In 2019, Red Eléctrica invested €40.1 million in the development of electricity infrastructure in the Basque Country, a region which, according to data at year end, has 1,359 km of 220 and 400 kV line circuit, and has 231 substation bays.