The Canary Islands Government Council has approved the Decree authorizing the construction of the 66-kilovolt (kV) double-circuit overhead/underground power transmission line between the Arinaga and Escobar substations. The resolution of the regional government, processed under sectoral file number AT15R056 at the proposal of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Energy, formalizes the inclusion of route variant AT25/008, promoted by Red Eléctrica de España, SAU. This legal decision activates the regulatory mechanism for compulsory execution, which mandates the simultaneous modification of all affected urban and territorial planning in the municipalities of Agüimes and Ingenio, overriding the restrictions of current municipal regulations.
The Executive's approval resolves a complex administrative impasse that had persisted since the project's initial submission in May 2015. The declaration of public utility for the revised route, with a final budget of €4.203.935, addresses the need to strengthen the high-voltage transmission network in southeastern Gran Canaria. The corridor connects the Arinaga substation—a critical node linked to the area's wind and industrial power generation—with the Escobar substation, guaranteeing the security of the electricity supply in the event of contingencies, reducing network losses, and facilitating the transmission of renewable energy from projects under development in the region.
The final route, validated by the Directorate General of Energy, comprises a mixed infrastructure approximately 7 kilometers long, divided into three distinct technical sections to mitigate the visual and residential impact on the eastern population centers. The first segment consists of a 110-meter underground conduit that runs from the 66 kV cells of the Arinaga substation to the T0 transition tower, using high-section insulated conductors of type $RHZ1-RA+20L(AS)$ with a cross-section of $1 \times 1000\text{ mm}^2$ per phase.
The central axis of the project is an overhead section extending 4,772 kilometers, supported by a total of 18 double-circuit metal pylons, numbered from T0 and T0bis to T16. This section runs over the rural land of the region, with its last pylon located near the settlement of La Banda. The route concludes with a 2,011-kilometer underground section that connects pylon T16 to the cells of the Escobar substation.
The pipeline runs under the public roadway, affecting Bardino Street in La Banda (Agüimes) and entering the town center of Ingenio through Ceferino Ramírez Rodríguez, Plaza del Buen Suceso, Rafael Martel Rodríguez, Cándida Ruano Urquía, and Fray Tomás Morales streets. Conflict resolution: Objections from the affected municipalities
The administrative file contains a comprehensive record of sector-specific audits stemming from the public consultation process, during which local authorities expressed their disagreement with their respective General Urban Development Plans (PGOs). The Agüimes City Council pointed out the impact of the overhead section on areas of intensive agricultural protection land, arguing that the PGO limits overhead power lines to those that demonstrate strict environmental adaptation.
The Ingenio Town Council strongly opposed the proposed undergrounding of the railway through the old town of Carrizal, warning of the risk of placing heavy burdens on the undeveloped urban land of La Alcantarilla and Lomo Cementerio. The local council demanded that the route be diverted up the ravine to the Carrizal Cemetery to avoid paralyzing the urban development areas awaiting development. The regional government's decree circumvents these municipal obstacles by declaring the project to be in the public interest, a legal prerogative that obliges municipal administrations to adapt their urban planning guidelines immediately.
The companies Agrícola Bonny, SL and Juliano Bonny Gómez, SL filed claims for damages to their properties in Polygon 1 affected by pylons T-11 through T-14. The landowners demanded compliance with the electromagnetic precautionary principle, requiring that the power lines be kept away from areas where workers are regularly present, and that minimum distances of 5 meters be imposed on the roofs of their greenhouses. The agricultural companies also demanded that the power line installation be coordinated with the biological cycles of the crops to prevent phytosanitary losses due to airborne dust, and that two critical agricultural water pipelines they own, which intersect the underground trench, be protected.
The most significant technical conflict arose from the private landowners and the company Oilean Laguna Eólica Energy, SL, the developer of the Concasur 2 Wind Farm. Their objections demonstrated that REE's original route violated the minimum regulatory safety distances established by technical instruction ITC-LAT-07 with respect to four planned wind turbines, a right upheld by rulings of the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, which overturned the previous withdrawal of their wind farm application. Subsequent revisions to the project submitted by the system operator incorporated specific route variations between towers T0 and T4 to avoid the wind turbine blade sweep of the Montaña de Arinaga, Concasur, and Renove-I wind farms, thus ensuring the coexistence of both infrastructures.
Tabaiba Solar, SL, owner of the Arinaga I and Arinaga II photovoltaic plants, obtained formal recognition as an affected party in the expropriation proceedings. The company demonstrated its surface rights through long-term lease agreements for plot 78 of Polygon 1, securing its right to receive financial compensation for any impact on its solar energy structures during the physical installation of the high-voltage towers. This compelled REE (Red Eléctrica de España) to summon the company for the preparation of the preliminary occupation records.
The project's environmental viability is supported by Resolution No. 578/2016 of the Directorate General for Nature Protection, which determined that the facilities would not generate significant adverse impacts, exempting the developer from the standard environmental assessment procedure. Subsequent modifications introduced in the 2019 and 2020 revisions received favorable reports from the Directorate General for Climate Action, as they were classified as minor technical variations that did not alter the original environmental assessment.
The Planning Department of the Gran Canaria Island Council certified the compatibility of the power line with the Special Territorial Plan for the Organization of Electricity Transport Corridors (PTE-31), after verifying that the pylons are located at a minimum distance equal to or greater than 1,50 times their height from the outer edge of the roadways. The works are contingent upon the complete restoration of the affected urban roads in Ingenio, the approval of the Culture and Historical Heritage Department regarding the archaeological sites in the southeastern basin, and obtaining the necessary permits from the State Aviation Safety Agency due to the proximity of the Gando Airport easements.
