i-DE, the distribution company of Iberdrola España, achieves historic records of power supply quality in the Region of Murcia

• Thanks to the continuous improvements implemented by the company, the storms of the last few weeks have not had any major impact on the distribution network.

  In the last five years, the company has reduced the time of interruptions in the electricity supply in the Community by more than 50%

i-DE, the distribution company of Iberdrola España has recorded its best ever quality of electricity supply in the first five months of the year in the Region of Murcia, where it has managed to reduce the time of interruptions in the electricity service by more than 50% in the last five years.

These figures are the result of the investments made by i-DE in new electricity infrastructures and in the maintenance and renewal of existing ones, as well as its ambitious digitalisation plan, which have enabled the company to overcome the successive storms and droughts recorded in recent weeks without any significant incidents.

For years, the company has had a specific action plan in place to provide greater guarantees for dealing with this type of extreme situations, which are occurring more and more frequently. The measures adopted include a network structure with redundancies, as well as an ambitious plan to deploy supervision and remote-control elements, which also includes automatic supply restoration mechanisms.

The climatic characteristics of the Region have made it necessary to develop a resilient network to minimise the impact of these adverse meteorological phenomena. During the last episodes of torrential rains, it has been possible to verify that the preventive measures adopted are effective, that digitalisation allows rapid replacement and that adapting the construction characteristics of the facilities helps to further reinforce the guarantee of supply. 

The measures implemented after the drought of September 2019, which included the modification of the fleet of vehicles or the adaptation of automation to the areas at greatest risk based on flood maps, have also helped to minimise the impact of the latest storms in the Community.

Improved emergency response capacity

In anticipation of the adverse weather forecast for the last few weeks, and in accordance with internal protocols for this type of conditions, last month i-DE activated extraordinary reinforcements in all its operational units in the Region, both in field work and in the support and operation centres of the distribution network.

The contractors with whom the company works were also reinforced and the availability of communication systems, generators and bilge pumps was confirmed, enabling the company to provide a stable electricity supply despite the inclement weather.

In the Region of Murcia, i-DE manages more than 28,000 kilometres of low and medium voltage lines and approximately 1,500 km of high and very high voltage lines. It also has 9,600 transformation centres in service and 69 substations. In recent years, the company has undertaken an ambitious plan to digitalise its electricity grids in the region, where it has converted its more than 900,000 meters and the infrastructure that supports them into smart meters, incorporating remote management, supervision and automation capabilities.