Nearly 400 i-DE employees in the Basque Country, Navarre and La Rioja focus on the key role of grids in the energy transition

• i-DE’s Director in the Northern Region, Javier Arriola, chaired this conference together with the heads of the Network Business in the Basque Country, La Rioja and Navarre.

• The company improved the quality of service it offers its customers in the Basque Country, La Rioja and Navarre, with the best year-end value in history. In the Northern Region, i-DE manages over 38,000 km of power lines, has 18,106 transformer stations in service and 292 substations.

i-DE, Iberdrola España's distribution company, held the 19th edition of its Networks Business meeting with a resounding success in terms of participation. This meeting brought together nearly 400 employees from the Northern Region: 294 from the Basque Country; 68 from Navarre; and 36 from La Rioja.

This new edition served to highlight and take stock of the activity carried out during 2023, in which the company improved the quality of service offered to its customers, with the best year-end value in history.

In each community of the Northern Region, the management shared its current context analysis, the opportunities and challenges arising from the energy transition: electrification of industry, self-consumption, energy communities, batteries or data processing centres, as well as the importance of cybersecurity and innovation as the backbone of the activity.

Javier Arriola, i-DE Director for the Northern Region, chaired the conference together with the heads of the Grid business in the Basque Country, Navarre and La Rioja, and they urged to reinforce people's safety to minimise the electrical risk and guarantee protection, as well as care for the environment.

The 19th edition of the Networks Business meeting focused on electrifying the economy, which is necessary to achieve decarbonisation – a key process for climate change. Electricity grids are a key element in the energy transition, integrating new connection points for both renewables and recharging, being able to manage bi-directional electricity flows and adapting to new needs of all agents.

The best quality of supply

The company has improved the quality of service it offers its customers in the Basque Country, La Rioja and Navarre, with the best year-end value in history. In the Basque Country, i-DE manages over 18,600 km of low and medium voltage lines and over 4,430 km of high and very high voltage lines. It also has 11,916 transformation centres in service and 165 substations. In Navarre, there are over 8,200 km of low and medium voltage lines and over 1,740 km of high and very high voltage lines. In addition, there are 3,648 transformation centres in service and 87 substations. In La Rioja, Iberdrola España's distribution company manages over 4,560 km of low and medium voltage lines and over 590 km of high voltage lines. In total, there are 2,542 transformer stations in service and 40 substations. 

In recent years, the company has undertaken an ambitious plan to digitalise its electricity grids, converting its meters and the infrastructure that supports them into smart meters, incorporating remote management, supervision and automation capabilities.

The digitisation of the electricity distribution grid will provide more information to implement additional energy efficiency and sustainability measures, in a way that is committed to ambitious and urgent climate action. The deployment of the smart grid makes it possible to respond to new models of grid use and offer a better service to citizens.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎