- During 2022, Endesa installed 4,200 new remote controls, which reduce the service restoration time after incidents by up to 20%.
- E-distribución, Endesa's grids subsidiary, added 1,323 kilometres of new or refurbished lines, 391 new transformer stations and 8 substations last year.
- The digitalisation of facilities and the use of artificial intelligence in processes increases the resilience of the distribution grid, reinforcing the quality of the electricity service offered to customers and enabling greater integration of renewables.
In 2022, through its grids subsidiary, e-Distribución, Endesa made progress in digitalising and improving the resilience of the distribution grid thanks to an investment of 418 million euros aimed at strengthening the infrastructure that will facilitate the electrification process, key to reducing dependence on fossil fuels and cutting polluting emissions. This figure represents an increase of 10% over the previous year and accounts for 47% of all investments made by Endesa in distribution last year, which totalled €889 million. With its commitment to digitalisation, Endesa is strengthening the development of smart grids, essential for incorporating the growing flow of renewable energies into the electricity system and promoting self-consumption, distributed generation and electric mobility.
Endesa's commitment to the development of grids capable of meeting both the increase in demand and extreme weather events resulting from climate change also led to the expansion and improvement of existing infrastructures with 8 new substations and more than 1,300 kilometres of new and refurbished lines within its extensive grid.
The investment executed by Endesa last year will continue in the coming years: between 2023 and 2025, Endesa plans to invest a total of €2.6 billion in its distribution grid, 42% of which will be allocated to its digitalisation in order to improve action on the ground, interaction with the customer and grid maintenance and operation.
Grid operation
Grid digitalisation and automation is an indispensable element to ensure that current and future consumers and producers can access electricity, with a higher quality supply and with fewer interruptions. An example is the installation of remote controls in medium voltage, remote control systems for remote response. With these devices, Endesa's control centres can perform automatic operations without having to move equipment to the field to resolve incidents. The time saved in equipment travel and incident detection translates into an average reduction of 20% in the disruption time of supply to customers. E-distribución has already installed more than 33,000 remote controls throughout its grid, 4,200 of which have been deployed in the last year with an investment of close to €100 million.
As a result, in 2022 more than 1.6 million remote or automatic actions have been executed to guarantee the electricity supply.
Sensors and improvement of field work
Another of the company's focal points is the deployment of LVS (Low Voltage Supervisor) devices in the transformation centres. These devices collect network information such as voltage levels, intensity or temperature to improve infrastructure management, detect fraud, assess the capacity available to connect new supply points, reduce repair time and analyse incidents to identify problems in the grid and avoid future breakdowns.
Digitalisation is also making it easier and safer for operators in the field to work. For example Smart Execution is an application to digitalise, automate and remotely control the activities carried out in the field, from preparing to executing, monitoring, controlling and certifying the works, therefore facilitating compliance with security measures.
New infrastructure
In addition to these initiatives, there has been a reinforcement and expansion of existing facilities that allowed electricity to be brought to more than 12.64 million customers, 58,000 more than in 2021, and to distribute 131.8 GWh of electricity, 0.5% more than in the previous year.
In 2022, e-distribución commissioned eight new substations and refurbished 125, reaching a total of 1,331 substations throughout Andalusia, Aragon, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and Catalonia.
Also, more than 1,300 kilometres of lines were incorporated and refurbished: e-distribución now manages 317,829 kilometres of lines, the equivalent of making almost eight trips around the earth.
About Endesa
Endesa is the largest electricity company in Spain and the second largest in Portugal. The company is also the second largest gas operator in the Spanish market. Endesa operates an end-to-end generation, distribution and marketing business. Through Endesa X it also offers value-added services aimed at the electrification of energy usage in homes, companies, industries and Public Administrations. A new business line has also been created, Endesa X Way, fully dedicated to electric mobility. Endesa is firmly committed to the United Nations SDGs and strongly supports the development of renewable energies through Enel Green Power España, the digitalisation of grids through e-distribución, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The Endesa Foundation is also active in CSR-related matters. Our workforce numbers around 9,260 employees. Endesa is a division of Enel, the largest electricity group in Europe.