An electrical substation hidden under a basketball court

One may have passed by it an infinite number of times, but it is unlikely that one is aware of what lies beneath. In the Raval, Plaza Terenci Moix, behind the CCCB and popular for its basketball court, holds a secret 15 meters deep. In one of its corners, a very discreet door, hidden among graffiti, gives access to the electrical substation that Endesa is building in the heart of the city, with the forecast of serving some 150,000 customers.

The electrical substation located beneath the basketball court of Plaza Terenci Moix is one of four underground substations in the city. In this case, it has been necessary to excavate to a depth of 30 meters to fit the infrastructure into the urban fabric while respecting all safety measures. It has also been necessary to give the installation sufficient size to house three large electrical transformers, responsible for adapting electricity to the power with which it is sent to homes and businesses.

Currently, the works in this substation in the heart of the Raval are about to complete a first stage that will allow it to start being used. After the civil work and the installation of the medium voltage cabins, the necessary cables still need to be connected to bring electricity to customers. According to Endesa's head in Barcelonès, Marcos Lalueza, these works are expected to finish in June. This will represent the partial commissioning of the electrical substation, pending the installation of the three transformers, for which it will be necessary to reopen the basketball court, and its connection to the Red Eléctrica network. For this second stage, with which it will operate at full capacity, there is no completion date.

The Valdonzella substation will not be the only one Endesa will add in Barcelona in the coming years. The electricity company is building another in the Marina del Prat Vermell neighborhood, where civil work is now being completed and will have two transformers. It is expected to be fully operational in 2024, before the one in the Raval. "We accompany the city in the areas where it is growing," explains Lalueza. Therefore, another substation will be located in Sagrera.

All in all, the company currently has a total of 24 electrical substations to serve all of Barcelona, some of them in metropolitan cities such as L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, El Prat de Llobregat, and Badalona. The largest is La Mata, in Poble Sec, serving 90,000 connection points. Medium-sized ones like Valldonzella reach between 50,000 and 70,000 connection points. According to Lalueza, adding an installation in the heart of Raval will help to expand the network, adding a point halfway between those in Arc de Triomf, the Escola Industrial, and Poble Sec, which improves response when breakdowns occur, covering the affected area from another source.

To bring electricity to customers, medium-voltage lines emanate from the electrical substations, totaling 3,500 kilometers in the Catalan capital. These are connected to the 7,000 small transformation centers distributed at street level throughout the city —the boxes—. Here, electricity is converted to low voltage, distributed to customers through 4,000 kilometers of cables.

The new substation is part of the investment package that Endesa is disbursing in the Catalan capital to update the network, as well as improve service with new infrastructures and the adoption of new technologies. The utility will invest 46 million euros this 2023 in the City Plan, agreed with the Barcelona City Council, a similar figure to that of the previous two years and 40% higher than in previous periods.