The BOC published yesterday, in a resolution signed on September 7 by the General Director of Energy of the Government of the Canary Islands, Rosa Ana Melián, that the request of the Endesa company to dismantle groups 5 and 6 of the thermal power plant of Las Caletillas, when considering the Government, previous reports from Red Eléctrica (distributor), that it would be a risk for “the electrical system of the island of Tenerife”, despite the fact that these two groups of fuel oil have already ended their useful life, with 41 and 35 years, respectively, in addition to failing to comply with European regulations, according to the Endesa executives in their petition.
On September 30, 2020, Endesa submitted to the General Directorate of Energy of the Government of the Canary Islands a request for administrative authorization for the dismantling and demolition of steam groups number 5 and 6, and common ones of the Candelaria thermal power plant, with a project that consists of the dismantling of the facilities, both inside and outside the turbine hall of groups 5 and 6 of the thermal power plant, with demolition of equipment benches up to grade level, dismantling of equipment, pipes, rack and wired out of service. All this while maintaining the open-plan building, including the demolition of the chimney of the groups up to ground level. The budget for the action amounts to 1,813,927.78 euros.
During the processing of the file, the Executive requested the issuance of a report to Red Eléctrica de España -system operator-, receiving by letter dated December 16, 2020 a report that concludes, among other reasons, that the closure of the Candelaria groups Steam 5 and 6 supposes a reduction of 74.56 MW in the available power in Tenerife’s electrical system and that its closure leads to overloads in certain scenarios occurring in the event of simple contingencies that can only be solved by load shedding, making it difficult or even making it impossible, in addition, to carry out maintenance or development work on the transmission network or the rest of the generation groups.
Due to the above arguments, due to the impact on demand coverage, on the security of the transmission network and on the maintainability of the electrical system, the system operator is not in favor of the requested closure of the Candelaria Vapor 5 and 6 groups.
On March 12, 2021, the developer (Endesa) submitted allegations to the system operator’s report, recalling that there is a practical impossibility for these groups to continue operating, since they have widely exceeded their useful lives (41 and 35 years respectively), being in a situation of technological obsolescence, in addition to not complying with the emission limit values of the European Directive 2010/75, of industrial emissions, those groups 5 and 6 being declared unavailable from January 1, 2020. They do not meet the technical or technological conditions to be able to provide emergency operation and do not have, due to their situation of technological obsolescence, the availability and supply of standard spare parts in the market.
For all these reasons, the head of the Transportation and Generation service, Florencio Blanco Fernández, concludes in denying the administrative authorization for the dismantling and demolition of steam groups number 5 and 6, and common ones of the Candelaria thermal power plant, requested with dated September 30, 2020 by Endesa, in accordance with the provisions of article 39 of the Regulation that regulates the administrative procedures related to the execution and commissioning of electrical installations in the Canary Islands, approved by Decree 141/2009 and other applicable regulations.
An appeal may be filed against this resolution before the Deputy Minister for the Fight against Climate Change within a period of one month.
Yes to groups 3 and 4
The Ministry of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning, on the other hand, did grant in July the administrative authorization for the dismantling and demolition of steam groups number 3 and 4 and the chimney of the thermal power plant of Las Caletillas, following the request made by Unión Eléctrica de Canarias Generación on February 17, 2011. The company presented the project in April, with a budget of 990,095 euros. These groups became operational in 1975 and 1979, and were closed in 2010.
The Las Caletillas thermal power plant began operating in 1967 and since 2015 the municipality of Candelaria awaits its total closure.
