Last December, e-distribución has already started the emergency plan for the reconstruction of the electricity system on the island of La Palma, which was severely damaged as a result of the numerous lava flows from the Cumbre Vieja volcano that devastated the island for three months, taking with it 130 kilometers of power lines, 85 medium voltage pylons, 1,500 low voltage wooden poles and 19 distribution centers owned by e-distribución.

We are now focusing our efforts on an ambitious and innovative plan to rebuild the electrification system of La Palma in order to continue guaranteeing the supply and to return to normality as soon as possible. The first measures of this plan include the creation of a portable power plant in Los Llanos de Aridane, already in an advanced state of assembly, and a second one, whose installation will begin shortly, which will be located in Las Manchas, one of the areas most affected by the volcanic activity.

After the scientists officially concluded the eruption on La Palma, our teams intensified work on the design of the island's total electricity recovery, supervising the work being carried out in record time in the Hermosillas area of Los Llanos de Aridane, where a thermal power plant with the capacity to supply 9 MW is almost ready, a capacity that would allow the entire population of Los Llanos de Aridane to be supplied. It would come into operation in the event of a failure in the current networks being supplied by the Los Guinchos thermal power station.

The portable thermal power station in Los Llanos de Aridane occupies twelve containers of considerable dimensions which were transported to the island by sea from destinations such as Italy, Germany and Belgium. Workers are currently completing the laying of the medium-voltage underground line connecting the Hermosilla point with the Valle de Aridane substation.

Work has also begun on the mobile thermal power station at Las Manchas, a place badly affected by lava, where the aim is to replace the line that used to connect the north with the south of La Palma and which, according to our technicians, has been completely broken. This emergency infrastructure would temporarily replace this ringed circuit. This installation would have a total power of 4 MW.

The technicians of e-distribución are studying, together with the authorities of the insular and autonomous government, which could be the new routes to recompose the electrification lines on La Palma. However, this intervention is still very much pending the conditions of the lava, which has reached a height of more than ten meters in certain areas where electricity pylons and poles used to be erected. In the meantime, work has been underway to rebuild supplies to the evacuated homes so that, as they return, they will at least find their homes with electricity.

The immediate planning of the mobile power stations in Los Llanos de Aridane and Las Manchas demonstrates the intense work carried out by our team to guarantee the electricity supply in La Palma in such adverse circumstances as a volcano. In fact, during the three months of the eruption, e-distribución's staff kept a close eye on the flow of lava flows, acting before they reached the towers to avoid short circuits and supply problems.

e-distribution also has the support of its own laboratory vehicle on the island to detect possible damage to the underground cabling which, during the months of magmatic expulsion, has been subjected to the impact of the high temperatures on the surface as the lava flows have passed through. Twelve new remote controls have also been installed in the medium voltage installations to alleviate the mobility problems caused by the volcanic eruptions, and to be able to operate the network without having to travel around the lava flows.