EIB backs Red Electrica’s 3.5 GWh pumped storage-desalination plant in Gran Canaria

The EUR 300 million ($324 million) loan will finance the construction and commissioning of the Salto de Chira reversible pumped storage hydroelectric power plant that Red Eléctrica, a subsidiary of Redeia, is building in Gran Canaria.
Reforestation of juniper trees in the area surrounding the Soria dam, by REE. | Image: Alejandro Quevedo ( foto.alejandroquevedo@gmail.com ) / REE

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved a €300 million loan to finance the construction of the Salto de Chira pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant being built by Red Eléctrica, a subsidiary of Redeia, in Gran Canaria.

With an investment of over EUR 400 million, the facility takes advantage of the two existing large reservoirs (the Chira and Soria dams) with a cumulative installed power outout of 200 MW, equivalent to approximately 36% of Gran Canaria’s peak demand, providing 3.5 GWh of storage, enough to supply the island for almost seven hours.

The project also includes the construction of a seawater desalination plant to contribute to water storage, which is also expected to have a positive impact on farming communities’ access to irrigation water.

The construction of the first large energy storage system in the Canary Islands began in February 2022, after being declared of general interest by the Government of the Canary Islands. It was halted after the discovery of several cavities and channels that could belong to the archaeological heritage of the Canary Islands, and was resumed in 2023.

Spanish engineering company Sener is carrying out the construction design work on the access roads to the different areas of the project, the underground access tunnels, the intakes at the Chira and Soria reservoirs , the hydraulic conduction, the group and transformer caverns, the hydromechanical and electromechanical equipment and installations, the control system, as well as the integration of the turbo groups and their associated auxiliary systems.

The access tunnel to the Salto de Chira cavern began to be excavated in January. A section of the impulsion pipeline has already been completed, and work is now underway on another section to Las Filipinas. The pipeline from the coast to the desalination plant has also been completed.

In early 2023, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) granted an EUR 90 million grant to the electricity system operator to finance the Salto de Chira project.

Written by

  • Pilar worked as managing editor for an international solar magazine, in addition to editing books, primarily in the fields of literature and art. She joined pv magazine in May 2017, where she manages the Spanish newsletter and website and helps write and edit articles for the daily news section in Latin America.

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