en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Institute for a Just Transition (ITJ), under Spain's Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (Miteco), has proposed granting grid access capacity at the Narcea 400 kV node to La Barca Energía, clearing a key regulatory hurdle for Magtel's La Barca reversible hydropower plant (CHR La Barca) project, which the company has been advancing since 2020.
The plant is planned for the municipality of Tineo in southwestern Asturias, with an installed capacity of 320 MW and a storage capacity of 4,092 MWh, providing 12.79 hours of autonomous operation at full load. These figures place the project among the largest hydro storage facilities currently under development in Spain, designed to shift renewable generation across time periods and provide flexibility regulation services to the power system. Following the grid access approval, the project still requires a public water domain concession and an Environmental Impact Statement (DIA).
The capacity award stems from a dedicated tender for the Narcea 400 kV node, a former thermal power plant evacuation corridor, aimed at reallocating capacity released by the closure of coal-fired plants, with territorial, social, and environmental impacts incorporated as additional selection criteria. Unlike standard grid access procedures, this selection process, in addition to technical conditions, places particular emphasis on applicants' commitment to local just transition, with evaluation dimensions including: creating stable employment, prioritizing the hiring of former thermal plant workers, promoting female employment, implementing training programs, fostering self-consumption generation, investing in regional value chains, introducing participatory financing mechanisms, undertaking circular economy actions, and protecting biodiversity.
According to ITJ public information, the proposal submitted by La Barca Energía is expected to create 289 jobs over at least 12 years, of which 154 are earmarked for surplus workers from the former thermal plant, with 52.24% of the committed positions to be filled by women.
Just weeks before this award proposal, another project promoted by Magtel—the Grandas de Salime reversible hydropower plant—secured €45 million in financing under the BORALMAC 2 program managed by the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE). That project, advanced by Salime Energía S.L., plans an installed capacity of 247 MW and a storage capacity of 3,810 MWh, and is one of seven projects selected in the second round of the reversible pumped storage aid program funded by the NextGenerationEU initiative. The plant is currently in the advanced administrative review stage, pending approval of the Environmental Impact Statement and prior administrative authorization.
