Endesa allocates €35.5 million to strengthen network resilience against extreme weather events this winter

• This represents a 7.5% increase compared to the previous year.
• A total of 24,000 inspections have been carried out at substations and distribution centres, and 12,300 km of lines have been checked.
• During this winter campaign, tree felling and pruning work has been conducted along 12,800 kilometres of lines to prevent and minimise incidents.

Endesa has increased this year’s budget by 7.5% to €35.5 million for strengthening and maintaining its distribution network as part of the Winter Campaign. Endesa’s network subsidiary, e-distribución, rolls out each year a comprehensive inspection, maintenance and reinforcement plan to address the seasonal rise in demand and the impact that extreme weather events have on the electricity grid. The objective is to minimise the risk of incidents and reduce restoration times as much as possible when they occur.

The effects of climate change are increasingly impacting electricity distribution networks. Storms Kristin, Leonard and Marta, which have particularly affected Andalusia, as well as the strong wind gusts recorded this week in several regions such as Catalonia, are the latest examples.

Technicians have had to cope with wind gusts exceeding 130 km/h at times and flooding caused by heavy rainfall, which has significantly complicated efforts to restore electricity supply.

Since 27 January, when Endesa activated its Emergency Operational Plan in Andalusia, all available company and contractor personnel have been deployed in the field, day and night, to resolve incidents as quickly as possible.

The damage recorded to power lines across Andalusia includes 53 trees fallen onto overhead lines, 252 conductors broken by strong winds, 189 electricity towers bent, broken or knocked down by the storms, and more than 170 overhead line components broken or significantly damaged after being struck by objects carried by the wind.

A large share of electrical infrastructure and the more than 320,000 kilometres of distribution network managed by Endesa — equivalent to circling the Earth eight times — are exposed to flooding, strong winds, lightning, frost and snowfall. To address these increasingly frequent and severe events, Endesa reinforces and digitalises the grid to make it more resilient, inspects infrastructure and implements emergency plans to respond to incidents.

This year, e-distribución has inspected nearly 12,300 km of medium- and high-voltage lines and carried out 24,000 inspections at substations and distribution centres. These activities have been conducted across Andalusia, Aragon, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Catalonia and part of Extremadura, covering a territory of nearly 195,500 km² where the company manages the distribution network.

For these inspections, drones and helicopters equipped with LiDAR technology are used to create 3D maps of the networks and their surroundings. These three-dimensional maps are also used in tree felling and pruning operations near overhead lines, as they allow verification that vegetation is kept at a safe distance from the lines. 

As part of this winter campaign, tree felling and pruning work has been carried out along 12,800 kilometres of lines. Strong winds accompanying storms — such as the more than 145 km/h recorded in 2023 in Andalusia during Storm Bernard, or those registered recently during Storm Kristin in different parts of Spain — can bring down pylons and power lines or cause trees and branches to fall onto cables, leaving customers without supply. For this reason, selective felling and pruning are essential to prevent as many incidents as possible.

Another risk factor for the network is snow accumulation on power lines, especially under high-humidity conditions, known as “wet snow”, which can cause lines to break or even towers to collapse.

Wet snow is an exceptional meteorological phenomenon, consisting of snow with a high liquid water content close to freezing point. This causes snow to adhere to electrical components (overhead lines, insulators, disconnectors, etc.). The substantial increase in weight (it is heavier than “dry” snow) that poles must bear, combined with the impact of wind on these lines, can lead to infrastructure collapse and require the rebuilding of a large part of the facilities across a wide geographical area, as occurred in 2020 during Storm Gloria in the Girona region.

For this reason, if adverse weather conditions likely to cause this accumulation of “wet snow” are forecast, crews are deployed to facilities to try to prevent snow from adhering and causing serious consequences. Preventive actions are also carried out, including installing devices on lines to hinder adhesion or implementing short-duration “instant openings” of lines to create an oscillating effect in the catenary conductors that dislodges accumulated snow.