The history of Endesa dates back to 1881, when in Barcelona the first electricity company in all of Spain was established. The Sociedad Española de Electricidad was a pioneer in proposing the production of energy for sale and not for self-consumption. Born 140 years ago, this company was the embryo of the current Endesa, with a path to the present marked by multiple causalities and anecdotes.
Despite being a precursor, the Catalan capital took a while to see the use of electricity become widespread, while in other cities where the Sociedad Española de Electricidad itself had created subsidiaries, such as Madrid and Valencia, the process was faster and easier. To understand the reason for Barcelona's slowness, the head of the Historical Fund of the Endesa Foundation, Toni Mera, points out that whenever a new technology, in this case electricity, wants to be popularized, the one that predominates in the market at that moment always does everything possible not to become extinct.
The enemy of electricity was gas, considerably cheaper, even though using it excessively could be harmful to health. In fact, at that time, Barcelona was the Spanish city with the cheapest gas, according to the author of studies and publications on electrification in Catalonia, Joan Carles Alayó. Likewise, electricity did not find the necessary institutional support to develop nor sufficient demand, considering that industries had their own machines to operate.
The difficulties faced by the Sociedad Española de Electricidad to introduce this new model led to the company eventually being transferred. Despite this, Mera emphasizes that it had the foresight to open the door to facilitate this transition. So great was its contribution that one of the iconic images of the production of this energy in the city, the Tres Xemeneies, was born with this unfortunate company. The Sociedad Española de Electricidad built a small power plant in the current Paralelo area, known as Les Hortes de Sant Bertran. Inaugurated in 1882, it would eventually expand over the years, becoming the Mata thermal power plant and adding, one by one, the chimneys that give it its name.
The Barcelona Electricity Company was the one that took over from the Spanish Electricity Society and grew the power plant that would end up erecting the famous Tres Xemeneies. With the Barcelona Electricity Company, which had the support of a German company and more cutting-edge technology, the electrification process in the Catalan capital accelerated, reaching trams and industry, and illuminating homes and businesses. After the Barcelona Electricity Company came La Canadenca in 1912, which was acquired by Fecsa in 1952. In turn, Fecsa ended up integrating into the current Endesa group during the 90s.
The influence of International Exhibitions
Like so many other elements of the city, the Spanish Electricity Society cannot be understood without the influence of International Exhibitions. Before the one in Barcelona in 1888, there was another that determined the arrival of electricity in the Catalan capital, explains Alayó. At the Vienna Universal Exhibition of 1873, the Barcelona engineer Ramon de Manjarrés discovered the potential of machines that generated electricity for industrial use or to illuminate the city. The Industrial School decided to import one of these devices at his proposal, with the help of the businessman Tomàs Josep Dalmau. The tests carried out at the Industrial School ended up encouraging Dalmau to create the Spanish Electricity Society in 1881, with the aim of exploiting it commercially.
At the Industrial School, the first machines to generate electricity were tested thanks to the engineer Ramon de ManjarrésIf the Universal Exhibition of 1873 sowed the seed of Spain's first electricity company, that of 1888 meant its end.The Spanish Electricity Society showed the virtues of electricity at this international meeting, illuminating the pavilions and Sant Jaume square. These investments to popularize its product ended up making the company unsustainable, which sought a buyer when the Universal Exhibition ended. And, if in 1888 the demand for electricity was not too much, when the Universal Exhibition returned to Barcelona, in 1929, the electrification process had already been completed in the city.
A small treasure in the Zona Franca
A good part of the legacy of these 140 years of history is found in a warehouse in the Zona Franca, where Endesa has its Historical Collection. It can be said that there is everything. Documents, books, photographs, cables, meters, turbines, telephones, vans, models, typewriters... Even the torch that carried the flame of the 1992 Olympic Games is there. The head of the Historical Collection, Toni Mera, is in charge of putting a bit of order and preparing the materials when they are sent to museums in cities and towns to explain their industrial past. The seed of this archive was planted by former worker Joan Tatjer, who directed the Fecsa Museum and was in charge of collecting all the materials.
Reviewing all these objects, Tatjer remembers back to the 60s, when he started working for Fecsa. One of the first episodes he experienced was a series of downpours that blocked the entire city. He, who was still "an intern," saw how everyone did what they could to save a situation that had overwhelmed them and remembers how a doctor who had started operating on a woman called him to ask for the power to be restored urgently. Everything in the Zona Franca shows him how technology has advanced since he started working and has made it possible to prevent situations like the one that doctor experienced from repeating themselves. But, above all, everything he sees in the warehouse reminds him of the people who made it possible and, over time, he has come to the conclusion that the true industrial heritage was them.