Various social and political organizations have called on the Catalan government to speed up the solutions to equip the future Tordera II desalination plant in Blanes with the necessary power supply for it to function. This desalination plant, which has suffered several delays, requires a power of 60 MW to operate and electrical infrastructure that currently does not exist.
The lack of energy support has become evident because the Santa Coloma de Farners-Riudarenes branch project of the Vic-Bescanó high-voltage line of Red Eléctrica has stalled. The project has been stuck after the protests in the territory, which were supported by the last governments of the Generalitat and most of the Catalan parties, including the PSC. The Government then promised an alternative route that has not yet been finalized. And yesterday, again, he promised that the electrical power source will be defined when the work project goes out to tender this year.
Sílvia Paneque, deputy of the PSC, criticized the delays in the water and energy infrastructures in Catalonia and pointed out that “the Government should have already specified an alternative solution that would ensure the same electrical capacity that the branch offers of the Riudarenes MAT”. “They haven’t done it yet, but I hope they do it soon and that this doesn’t delay the opening of the new desalination plant.”
Salvador Vergès, member of Junts, says that “this is an example of the harm that can be caused by the delay that Catalonia accumulates in the matter of renewable energy”. Vergés indicates that several studies have supported the idea that it was not strictly necessary to supply more electricity through this new high-voltage line and that it was possible to do it with smaller lines that were less harmful to the territory, the landscape and the environment . “Councillor Teresa Jordà promised that these less harmful alternatives would be studied. She was supposed to move them to Madrid, but she has had to manage or defend them badly when we need a desalination plant as a priority in which the source of electricity is still pending”, he says.
“In the last ten years, with the ERC and Junts governments, we have had no ecological, water or energy planning. It was a foretold disaster. Lots of words and communication about the climate emergency and little action. Girona is an energy island with almost zero renewables. If we didn’t want high voltage lines, we needed renewables. Neither one thing nor the other has been done”, says David Cid, deputy of the commons.
“We need urgent solutions, because for years in Catalonia there has not been a global and systemic vision of the needs in terms of infrastructure”, points out Carles Conill, president of the Environment Commission of the College of Civil Engineers . “You can’t think of any water infrastructure without taking into account its energy needs”, he emphasizes. Salvador Sedó (Foment del Treball) judged that “if the batteries are put in place, it is still possible to arrive in time” to provide a solution, since the date to start it is 2028.
