Emergency Power Plants to be Installed in Tenerife
Mobile emergency power plants will be established in Tenerife to enhance electrical supply security and prevent energy shortages. The plants will be located in the La Campaña Industrial Estate (El Rosario) and in Los Abrigos (Granadilla de Abona). The Government of the Canary Islands approved the modification of the affected planning yesterday, allowing these two projects to progress as part of extraordinary measures aimed at reinforcing the security of the electricity supply across the archipelago.
The spokesperson for the Government of the Canary Islands, Alfonso Cabello, stated that both emergency plants are “very complex projects” that provide a “solution to the obsolescence of facilities that are over 30 years old.” During the press conference following yesterday’s Government Council meeting, he emphasised that “this is not about patching up, but about replacement.”
Details of the La Campaña Plant
The installation at La Campaña will consist of five generation units, each with a capacity of 1.8 megawatts (MW), totalling to nine MW. The equipment will be housed in 40-foot containers with sound insulation and will include transformer centres connected to a substation for stepping up voltage to 20 kilovolts (kV).
This temporary project, designed for quick assembly and disassembly, represents an investment of €5.5 million, to be borne by the company Sampol. Electricity will be evacuated via an underground line approximately 200 metres long to the Endesa distribution substation known as El Chorrillo.
Emergency Plant in Los Abrigos
The emergency plant in Los Abrigos, located in Granadilla de Abona, plans to install eight generation units of 1.8 MW each, totalling 14.8 MW of electrical power. Like the La Campaña plant, this equipment will also be located in 40-foot containers with sound insulation, and will be equipped with transformer centres that raise the voltage to 66 kV.
The anticipated investment for this facility is €25.1 million, covered by the company Disa. The evacuation of electricity will be facilitated through an underground line of about 300 metres to the Granadilla transport substation operated by Red Eléctrica de España.
Regulatory Compliance and Strategic Importance
In both cases, the generation units comply with strict emission regulations applicable to such installations, incorporating a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system, as reported by the regional Government.
Both facilities, which will be situated on land designated as industrial, will complement ongoing initiatives across various islands and will bolster the overall emergency energy measures devised by the Government of Canary Islands in collaboration with the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.
Part of a Broader Strategy
These two projects are part of ten emergency energy installations announced by the Government of the Canary Islands for the entire archipelago, strategically distributed among Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and Fuerteventura to address critical points in the island’s system and ensure an effective response to emergencies. The Government believes this will cover 90% of the total deficit, which has been reported by the system operator (Red Ecléctica) and quantified at 268 MW of power.
