Last Friday, Endesa registered a letter with Alcudia town hall in which the electricity company seeks to have the old power station in Alcanada declared a ruin and to have permission to demolish it.
This is not the first time that Endesa have requested permission. In 2016, the town hall blocked a request on the grounds that the power station has protection because of its local artistic heritage. Ever since the town hall gave its rejection, it has been waiting for the Council of Majorca's heritage department to decide if the power station should be given a higher level of protection - an asset in the cultural interest. The absence of a declaration by the Council means that any project for the whole zone - the power station itself and immediate surrounds - is on hold.
Endesa maintain that the power station, on which work started in 1955, had been forecast to have a useful life of 23 years, albeit there was provision for up to fifty. The condition it is now in has led to the collapse of some structures, while the decision to give it some protected status was taken when it was clear that the power station had outlived its usefulness and was already a ruin.
As far as the electricity company is concerned, it was never envisaged that the power station would have an "indefinite" life and be used for other purposes. Materials used in its construction were not ones that would be demanded nowadays, and these, together with its location right next to the sea, have contributed to erosion, rusting and the poor condition.
Endesa also point to the cost of any rehabilitation. In relative terms, taking account of prices when it was built and as they are now, it would cost more to undertake rehabilitation than it did to build it. This is therefore further justification for declaring the power station a ruin.