Red Electrica has announced that the undersea cable linking Majorca and Minorca is now operating. It has been almost three years since the previous cable was decommissioned after it was cut by a ship's anchor. The supply was reactivated at 17.00 on Wednesday, the 41.7 kilometres of new cable having cost 84 million euros to lay.
The work began in November 2018, thirteen months after the old cable was damaged. There was added urgency to the work, Minorca having suffered a blackout - three days without power that was caused by the violent tornado in October 2018.
Because it was essential, work wasn't interrupted when the state of alarm was declared. The national minister for ecological transition, Teresa Ribera, says that the project, one of "great technical complexity", has met all its deadlines. As well as the cable having been laid, there have been extensions to the substations in Ciutadella and Cala Mesquida (Majorca).
The president of Red Electrica, Beatriz Corredor, has underlined the importance of the new cable, as it will improve "in a decisive way" the security and quality of electricity supply. It will also promote the energy transition process, as supply will integrate renewable sources.
The cable has a maximum transport capacity of 100 megawatts, but it is expected to operate at a third of this for security reasons.