- Endesa's networks subsidiary, e-distribución, has awarded the works for the next three years, which will involve an investment of close to 20 million euros per year.
- Felling, pruning and clearing activities around power lines facilitates the responsible management of forest resources across 47,520 hectares throughout Spain.
E-distribución, Endesa's grid subsidiary, performs felling and pruning activities around power lines, consisting of the preventive maintenance of its electricity distribution grid and the surrounding forested areas in pursuit of a dual objective: this helps to ensure the continuity of the electricity supply to all customers as well as reducing the risk of fires, especiallyduring the summer period. To this end, it has an important series of measures in place that contributes to local development and the conservation of biodiversity in the areas in which it operates. The Endesa subsidiary will allocate an investment of close to 20 million euros per year over the next three years, which will allow it to mobilise more than 2,000 local jobs per year.
Every three years, e-distribución outsources the work to different companies that perform this work during the autumn and winter months throughout the six autonomous communities in which it is responsible for power distribution grid (Aragon, Catalonia, Balearic Islands, Andalusia, Extremadura and the Canary Islands), aligning its activities with regional regulations to make sure that the more than 316,000 km of lines it manages throughout Spain are ready for the summer, when the risk of fire is at its highest.
For the coming 2024-2026 period, the tender was recently awarded to 15 companies that will be tasked with maintaining tree populations in the area surrounding the e-distribución grids, across an area of close to 195,500 square kilometres.
In addition to the environmental benefits of tree cutting and pruning, these activities also have a positive impact on local socio-economic development, in the form of the investment of around 60 million euros over the next three years, distributed among the different affected areas depending on their size and the characteristics of the forested areas in the vicinity of the overhead lines.
Focussing on local jobs created, the felling and pruning campaign around electricity distribution lines sees 2,080 people employed each year, of which more than half are located in Andalusia and Extremadura, 584 in Catalonia, 187 in Aragon, 116 in the Canary Islands and 80 in the Balearic Islands.
In this tender, as in the previous one that covered the previous triennium 2020-2023, a K factor has been included for hiring people at risk of social exclusion, with a minimum of one person per lot (there are 70 lots throughout Spain). This benefits participating companies that commit to hiring individuals from this collective to facilitate their integration during the tender process.
What's more, in terms of the positive impact of e-distribución activity in the areas in which it operates, work is currently being undertaken to design a specific training course which involves creating a new specialist qualification for felling and pruning around electrical grids that covers all the specific subjects and themes of this activity, with a particular emphasis on safety issues, which are key in the electricity sector and, specifically, in relation to these tasks.
Benefit to the environment
When it comes to environmental benefits, e-distribución promotes the responsible management of forest resources, vegetation and flora across the 47,520 hectares managed in Spain, thanks to controlled felling, pruning and clearing in the clearings created around the power lines, which are essential tasks when it comes to fire prevention. The work undertaken on these 47,000 hectares means it is possible to protect thousands more hectares, since the clearings serve as natural firebreaks that in many cases prevent the spread of fires in forests and the surrounding area.
In addition, specific and highly specialist work is undertaken in special protection areas including natural parks, national parks or biosphere reserves.
Controlled felling entails the reuse and recycling of about 4.4 million tonnes of wood every three years; once having been felled, the wood is made available to landowners, who usually give this wood a second use as fuel.
An additional environmental benefit, which has also been included in the technical specifications for companies, is the use of environmentally friendly vehicles in order to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. This helps to avoid estimated emissions of 30 tonnes of CO2 each year.
These works form part of the company's commitment to protecting the environment and the development of the areas in which it operates within the e-distribución operation and maintenance plan.
About Endesa
Endesa is a leading electricity company in Spain and the second largest in Portugal. In addition, it is the second largest gas operator in the Spanish market. It undertakes end-to-end business including the generation, distribution and retailing of electricity. It also offers, through Endesa X, value-added services aimed at the electrification of energy uses in homes, companies, industries and public administrations, including electric mobility, where it is one of the main operators of charging points in Spain. Endesa is firmly committed to the United Nations' SDGs and, as such, is strongly promoting the development of renewable energies through Enel Green Power España, the digitalisation of networks through e-distribution, and Corporate Social Responsibility. The Endesa Foundation is also active in CSR. Our team totals around 9,260 employees. Endesa is part of Enel, Europe's largest electricity group.