The Generalitat has definitively shelved the branch of the Very High Voltage (MAT) line between Santa Coloma de Farners and Riudarenes, which ran largely through the Guilleries massif, and has agreed with the Ministry of Ecological Transition on an alternative route close to Girona airport and the infrastructure corridor formed by the Transversal Axis (C-25) and the high-speed line. Two of the nineteen kilometers of the new power line – the closest to the Girona-Costa Brava aerodrome – will be buried and five will be compacted with other existing power lines.
The infrastructure will strengthen the quality of the electricity supply in the south of the Costa Brava and in the north of the Maresme, it will increase the power supply to the AVE railway corridor and guarantee sufficient electrical power so that the new desalination plant in Blanes can operate when it is put into operation starts, according to the Generalitat’s calculations, in 2028. If the deadlines are met, the electrical infrastructure could enter service in 2027. The new proposal also foresees that the desalination plant will be connected directly to the 220 kV network, a fact which, as explained yesterday by the general director of Environmental and Environmental Policies, Marc Vilahur, will halve the energy cost to produce desalinated water.
The proposal presented yesterday by the Minister of Climate Action of the Generalitat, David Mascort, to the mayors affected by the new route minimizes the landscape, environmental and social impact on the surroundings, as it has one underground section, another compacted and the impact on natural spaces of the MAT power line, the name given to the electric highway that carries a minimum of 400,000 volts, has been reduced to less than a third. In the proposal so far included in the energy planning of the Central Government for the period 2021-2026 and which the Council of Ministers should repeal in the coming weeks, the 400 kV would run along 17.5 kilometers between Santa Coloma de Farners and Riudarenes and affected the Guilleries massif. In the current proposal, there will only be five kilometers of MAT line, a section at the height of Santa Coloma de Farners, where there will also be a substation. The rest will be 220 kV.
It is, according to Mascort, a “technically viable” route and although it will have a cost overrun compared to the previous route, which was close to 20 million, it does not deviate from it “excessively”.
The Generalitat assures that the project has been agreed with all the agents involved, such as the Spanish Government, Red Eléctrica, Endesa, Adif, affected municipalities and the No a la MAT platform. The mayor of Santa Coloma de Farners, Carme Salamaña (Junts), described the proposal as “good for the environment and the population that has fought for so many years against the MAT”, although she regretted that the Catalan Government had the announcement on the eve of an election.