The commissioning of the new 400 kilovolt (kV) Cariñena substation will take place in the coming weeks, once the final tests currently being carried out have been completed. This will culminate the construction work that began just over a year ago, which has entailed an investment of €8 million by Red Eléctrica de España in the substation and in the electricity line of less than one kilometre that connects it to the electricity transmission grid.

This is a key infrastructure to advance the electrification of the railway axis that runs between Zaragoza, Teruel and Sagunto, as well as to introduce renewable energy into the electricity system. What is more, it is prepared for the future, as it has been designed taking into account further transmission grid meshing that may be deemed necessary.

The configuration of this substation gives it maximum operational safety and greater flexibility for maintenance operations. It has been built using a new communication standard between the electrical equipment and the command-and-control systems, according to a protocol that reduces copper wiring and replaces it with fibre optics, in line with the continuous innovation and the best technologies that Red Eléctrica applies in the development of its infrastructure.

These details were announced by Red Eléctrica de España’s General Manager of Transmission Division,  Ángel Mahou, and by the Company’s Northeast regional delegate, José Ignacio Lallana, during a visit to the site in which the following authorities took part: the acting government delegate in Aragón, Fernando Beltrán; the Vice-President and Regional Minister for Industry, Competitiveness and Business Development of the Government of Aragón, Arturo Aliaga; the Mayor of Cariñena, Sergio Ortiz; the Director General of Energy and Mines of the Government of Aragón, Sergio Breto, and the Corporate Director of External Relations, Communication and Territory of Red Eléctrica de España, Miryam Aguilar.

At the event, the General Manager of Transmission Division of Red Eléctrica de España, Ángel Mahou, pointed out that "the new Cariñena substation is key to contributing to decarbonising transport, achieving the current CO2 emission reduction targets and making the energy transition a reality."

Red Eléctrica has invested €193 million in Aragón in the last 5 years

Red Eléctrica has invested €193 million in Aragón over the last 5 years in the construction of important infrastructure to guarantee the security of supply, favour the development of renewable energy projects and meet essential consumption needs, all of which are included in the ‘2015-2020 Energy Planning, Development Plan for the Electricity Transmission Grid”, approved by the Council of Ministers.

In addition to the Cariñena substation, some of the most noteworthy projects carried out by Red Eléctrica were the 400 kilovolt Mezquita-Morella and Mudéjar-Morella axes, which made it possible to respond to the need to improve transmission grid meshing between the provinces of Teruel and Castellón to increase the quality and security of supply of the electricity system, while also increasing the possibilities for economic development and renewable energy evacuation in the whole area, especially in the province of Teruel. The 2015-2020 Plan also included another relevant project which addressed the improvement of the electricity supply to the PLAZA logistics platform in Zaragoza, which, with the new 220 kilovolt electricity line - the first ever 220 kV underground line in Aragón - significantly improved the security of its supply and its attractiveness for new investment.

The draft of the new 2021-2026 Energy Planning, presented at the beginning of this year by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, envisages investments of over €300 million in order to continue improving the transmission grid in the autonomous community of Aragón.