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I-DE, Iberdrola España's distribution company, and the Castellón Provincial Council renew their commitment to driving smart tech and sustainability in the province
- In the province of Castellón i-DE manages approximately 10,500 kilometres of low and medium voltage lines and more than 600 km of high and very high voltage lines
The Castellón Provincial Council and i-DE, Iberdrola España's distribution company, renewed their commitment to promoting smart technologies and sustainability in the province. The company's director in the Eastern Region, Guillermo Raga, and the president of the provincial institution, Marta Barrachina, signed the agreement aimed at further strengthening their common commitment to energy efficiency, the electrification of the economy, sustainability and electric mobility.
The main objectives of the agreement are to facilitate and advise the province's municipalities on the best locations to install recharging services in their municipality, to determine the technical and economic feasibility and to help i-DE integrate electrical grids during the infrastructure's roll-out by the Provincial Council.
Guillermo Raga stressed that this agreement allows us “to promote the energy transition and decarbonisation in the towns of the province, focusing on electrification to grow in energy autonomy and competitiveness, while protecting the environment”.
‘We signed a commitment between the two institutions for two years to contribute to making the whole of our territory smarter and more sustainable’, said the president Marta Barrachina, who added that this ‘improves the quality of the supply grid, electromobility and brings renewable energies to the rural areas of the province, expanding the institution's commitment to optimising energy consumption and promoting actions and activities that encourage energy saving and efficiency in the province of Castellón’.
This partnership will continue to encourage the promotion of installations of all types of renewable energy sources, especially electricity self-consumption at municipal facilities, as well as promoting the development of basic electrification infrastructures to develop rural areas.
To achieve all these objectives, both parties will carry out a series of actions, including cooperation in the implementation of actions or activities in electric efficiency, savings and mobility proposed by the province’s municipalities, as well as in the programmes, plans and initiatives developed by the public administrations in those areas.
Work will also be carried out to jointly advise municipalities in the province of Castellón on identifying suitable spaces to house recharging points, providing technical information on the capacity of the electricity distribution grids in their municipalities, to determine the technical and economic feasibility of installing them, providing power supply solutions and advising on chosing the most efficient and least costly sites.
Coordination with municipalities
Action will also be taken to upload information on the local institutions in the province of Castellón regarding their energy consumption to the Castellón Provincial Council's SmartVillage platform, so that it can be used to carry out energy studies and calculate emissions.
Cooperation to improve the reliability and resilience of the i-DE electricity distribution grid in the province, especially in rural areas, by signing agreements for the mutual use of the infrastructures for electricity as well as communications, water supply, road access and, in general, common basic infrastructure for the exercise of municipal powers, is also part of the list of planned actions.
Advising and promoting access and connection to the i-DE grid of all types of renewable electricity sources, especially electricity self-consumption in municipal buildings, is also included, as well as studies for the possible integration of the development of electricity distribution grids with road networks in the case of infrastructures of general interest for the province’s electrification.
President Marta Barrachina stressed that ‘we believe in dialogue and collaboration as the keys to the development of our territory and agreements such as the one signed with i-DE are part of the path taken by the Castellón Provincial Council towards a more efficient and sustainable province with better resources’.
Key infrastructure for electrification in the province of Castellón
In the province of Castellón, i-DE manages approximately 10,500 kilometres of low and medium voltage lines and more than 600 km of high and very high voltage lines. It also has 4,000 transformation centres in service and 34 primary and secondary substations. In recent years, the company has undertaken an ambitious plan to digitalise its electricity grids, where it has converted its more than 450,000 meters and the infrastructure that supports them into smart meters, incorporating remote management, supervision and automation capabilities.
Electricity grids are essential to enable the energy transition, as they are the link between the generation of renewable energy and the consumer, whether an individual or a company.
Traditionally, the electricity grid was static and unidirectional, but now, with new consumption habits such as self-consumption, the grid needs to be bidirectional, with communication between all agents.
I-DE is immersed in digitalising the electricity grid that will offer more information to implement additional energy efficiency and sustainability measures, in a way that is committed to ambitious and urgent climate action. The deployment of the smart grid makes it possible to respond to new models of grid use and offer people better service.
