Iberdrola España and the Government of La Rioja invest 276,421 euros in the new agreement for the protection of birdlife

• I-DE, Iberdrola España's distribution company, and the Government of La Rioja will collaborate to adapt power line supports in specially protected areas in the vicinity of electrical installations.

i-DE, Iberdrola España's distributor, and the Government of La Rioja, have signed an agreement for the adaptation of overhead power lines in the autonomous community for the protection of birdlife in the vicinity of electrical installations. 

The general director of Natural Environment and Landscape, Ignacio Sáenz de Urturi, together with the delegate of Iberdrola España in La Rioja, Carlos Sobrino, have presented today a new collaboration agreement to carry out projects for the modification of power lines for the protection of birdlife, within the framework of the collaboration agreement that both entities have maintained for twenty-five years.

The Government of La Rioja allocated 138,210.83 euros, in 2023, from European Funds within the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, to finance 50% of the agreed actions, the other part has been contributed by Iberdrola Spain through its distributor I-DE to implement solutions that minimize the impact of power lines on the environment, especially on birdlife, to reach a total amount that exceeds 276,400 euros of investment.

"The two causes of mortality for birdlife that deserve to be taken into account are electrocution and collision, both are preeminent in terms of actions", has indicated Ignacio Saenz de Urturi.

Previously, the Directorate General for the Natural Environment and Landscape has carried out the necessary studies to determine the priority areas for action, setting for the present agreement some areas in the surroundings of protected natural spaces considered as "protection areas".

This agreement contemplates action on seven overhead lines: the one running through the Cidacos valley, three sections of the Logroño-Anguiano line, the Haro-Nájera double circuit line, the line between Arnedo and Quel and, lastly, the line in the vicinity of Las Viniegras, of the Mansilla RTS. Four of them of 66 kV, two of 13.2 kV and the last one of 20 kV.

In total, within the framework of the agreement, 82 supports and 12.98 kilometers of line have been reformed this 2023 to reduce the risk of electrocution, and 1.6 kilometers of line have been beaconed to avoid collisions.

In this regard, Iberdrola's delegate in La Rioja, Carlos Sobrino, stressed that "approximately 80% of the pylons located in a special bird protection area have already been adapted. Our intention is to complete 100% of the supports in 2025, maximum 2026".

All the reform actions are focused on high voltage and medium voltage overhead power lines located in the so-called protection areas, basically Natura 2000 Network areas in La Rioja or areas that are within the scope of species recovery plans. 

Within these areas, intervention is carried out on lines that do not comply with the technical requirements established in the regulations and in what are known as "black spots", those places in the electricity network that record the highest rates of bird mortality, according to studies that the Directorate General for the Natural Environment and Landscape has been carrying out for years, and the data compiled by forestry agents and technicians from the environmental administration of La Rioja and Iberdrola.

More than two million euros and 144 lines corrected

This new agreement gives continuity to the work that the Government of La Rioja and Iberdrola Spain have been carrying out for the last twenty-five years to advance in the establishment of preventive and corrective measures to reduce the number of bird deaths.

The first collaboration agreement dates back to 1998 and since then both organizations have worked on the survey and inventory of dangerous power lines and their correction, financing the actions in these areas on a 50/50 basis. Since then, the electricity distribution company and the environmental administration of La Rioja have invested more than two million euros in the correction of power lines. In all, work has been carried out on 144 power lines. A total of 1,586 pylons have been corrected, and 583 spans have been signaled to avoid death by collision; between the two actions, work has been carried out on more than 375 kilometers of power lines.

Grids, the driving force behind the energy transition

Grids are the backbone of the new energy model and the path for the transition to a green economy, which will allow the integration of more renewables, sustainable mobility and electric vehicles, smart cities and self-consumption, which is why investment in grids must be more ambitious if the objectives set out in the decarbonization 'roadmap' are to be achieved. In La Rioja, i-DE, Iberdrola España's distribution company, manages more than 4,560 km of low and medium voltage lines and more than 590 km of high voltage lines. It also has 2,542 transformation centers in service and 40 substations. The company maintains a level of service quality in the region that is above the national average, with the best year-end value in history.