The Stellantis factory in Vigo is the only car factory in Spain that does not have a very high voltage source. Connected to a 132 kilovolt (kv) network, an increasingly limited power given the progressive electrification of models and automation of processes within the factory. That’s why in 2015, when the total ban on internal combustion engines was more of a herald of doom and the use of a large part of automation was being developed, the central government realized that the factory needed so much. more capacity. So, in Planning of 2015-2020 electricity transmission gridSpanish Electricity Network (REE), clearly planned the construction of a substation It would feed it with a power of 220 kv. That investment never happened. It has since been encrypted at 66.8 million euros, despite hundreds of micro-interruptions and voltage drops that have cost it the loss of just as many cars and vans. The company’s claims, the technical studies submitted, or even the Senate’s request did not change Minister Teresa Ribera’s mind, as did the UVigo Electrical Engineering Department Electrotechnical and Electrical Networks Group. Stellantis will remain Vigo the only car factory in the country without access to a very high voltage grid.
On July 6, the Upper Assembly Industry, Trade and Tourism Committee approved the Assembly’s motion. popular Vigo Javier Guerra, where the manager was asked to change the new Red Eléctrica planning (in effect for the period 2021-2026) and include a substation for Vigo. The initiative received the support of all representative groups (PNV, Ciudadanos, Democratic Group and Left Group) and the Socialists and ERC abstained. Even so, the Government sent to the Senate the exact same arguments it advanced in May, through a response that FARO had access to. “Regarding the grounds for requesting a 220 kV connection in relation to the claim of poor supply quality at 132 kV due to a large number of voltage drops, No evidence of particularly poor quality at the 132 kV junction”, says the document, which was signed on August 24, word for word. Therefore, it is even suspected that voltage micro-interruptions – these are minor power outages – that cause the loss of production of a hundred cars in just one day. He finally comes to the conclusion:the need to develop the transmission network through the new substation was not identified Around the Stellantis factory in Vigo because the offer was not justified enough”.
As pointed out in this newspaper as early as the summer by the heads of the Balaídos factory, this will “limit the industrial plans” of the plants. “If they talk to us, we can explain it to them.” Despite the metamorphosis of the Spanish industrial fabric, the electricity supply law of 2000, which is in effect today, only reveals the probability that energy consumers will experience a maximum number of power outages of more than three minutes, which in the case of Stellantis – due to its urban location and 132 kV power – cannot exceed eight per year. The problem is that the factory is subject to voltage drops and millisecond micro-interruptions not defined in the decree.. “A millisecond micro-cut today that paralyzes our facilities and causes severe production losses is not considered in this standard,” they featured profusely at Stellantis. The factory demands a “credibility of supply” that it currently lacks.
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