Green light for 150 MVAr reactance at the Abegondo substation

The General Directorate of Energy Policy and Mines has granted Red Eléctrica de España, S.A.U. the prior administrative authorization and the administrative construction authorization to expand the Abegondo 400 kV substation with a new 150 MVAr reactor. The decision, signed in Madrid on October 13, 2026, by the general director Manuel García Hernández, is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of A Coruña no. 210, corresponding to Tuesday, November 3, 2026, under announcement number 2026/7058.

The action was processed as an electric energy transmission installation under state jurisdiction. Red Eléctrica submitted the application on December 4, 2024, and the file was initiated in the Industry and Energy Area of the Government Delegation in Galicia, in accordance with Royal Decree 1955/2000, of December 1, and the second, third, and twelfth additional provisions of Law 13/2003, of May 23. The company submitted the responsible declaration of compliance with the regulations provided for in article 53.1 of Law 24/2013, of December 26, of the Electricity Sector.

Two authorizations in a single act

The resolution concentrates the two requested authorizations into a single pronouncement for reasons of speed and procedural economy:

• Prior administrative authorization to enable a position and install the new reactor (REA-1) at the Abegondo substation, municipal district of Abegondo.
• Administrative construction authorization according to the project “Expansion of Abegondo 400 kV substation new Reactor”, dated July 2024.
• Execution through the enabling of street 0 of the substation.

The technical characteristics collected in the text are as follows:

• Nominal voltage of 400 kV and highest voltage for the material of 420 kV.
• AIS technology, conventional outdoor installation, and breaker-and-a-half configuration.
• Short-duration short-circuit current of 50 kA.
• Reactor of 400 kV, 150 MVAr, star connection, and three-phase configuration.

Infrastructure already foreseen in state planning

The text justifies the work on the grounds that it allows for “the management and compensation of reactive energy of the transmission network in the area” and that it responds to voltage control needs of the peninsular electrical system. The expansion is included in the current planning, collected in the Resolution of April 22, 2024, of the Secretary of State for Energy (published in the BOE on April 24, 2024), which publicized the Agreement of the Council of Ministers of April 16, 2024, modifying specific aspects of the Transmission Network Development Plan 2021-2026, approved on March 22, 2022.

The instruction of the procedure included public information through an announcement by the Area of Industry and Energy in BOE no. 164, of July 9, 2025, and in the Official Gazette of the Province of A Coruña no. 132, of July 14, 2025. The body issued a report on April 1, 2026, and sent a resolution proposal to the National Commission on Markets and Competition, which did not respond within the period of 15 business days, therefore it was understood as a favorable report.

Favorable regional reports and opposition from the city council

The General Directorate of Urbanism and the Territorial Department of the Ministry of Economy and Industry of the Xunta de Galicia responded without formulating opposition, while the General Directorate of Renewable Energies and Climate Change did not reply, which is interpreted as conformity with articles 127.2 and 131.1 of Royal Decree 1955/2000. The General Directorate of Public Health warned of a possible impact in the field of public health, a point that Red Eléctrica rejected, considering that the action does not require environmental processing according to Law 21/2013, of December 9.

The City Council of Abegondo reported against it for urban planning reasons —non-compliance with articles of the General Municipal Zoning Plan— and, subsequently, reiterated its opposition for urban planning and environmental reasons. The resolution rules out taking these allegations into consideration because they exceed the object of article 131 of Royal Decree 1955/2000, a criterion endorsed by opinion 1251/2024, of July 9, from the State Attorney’s Office in the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. The text further specifies that the substation already had authorization by resolution of November 5, 2025, and that only its expansion is now being authorized.

Deadlines and appeal process

The annex of the resolution sets a deadline of eighteen months, counted from the notification, to issue the operating authorization, and obliges the holder to communicate the completion of the works to the competent provincial body. The authorization does not exempt from other environmental, territorial, or industrial safety licenses.

Against the resolution, which does not end the administrative route, an administrative appeal (recurso de alzada) may be filed before the holder of the Secretary of State for Energy within a period of one month from the day following the notification.

The decision clears the administrative path for an infrastructure that reinforces the voltage control capacity of the transmission network in the peninsular northwest and directly affects the municipality of Abegondo, where the local government maintains urban planning reservations regarding the project. For the readers of the region, the publication in the official gazette represents the definitive state authorization framework for the work and a clear calendar: the commissioning must be formalized within the next eighteen months.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of A Coruña, no. 210, November 3, 2026, Central Administration, pp. 1-4 (official reference: 2026/7058).