The Government reserves the last word over Altri to authorize its electrical connection: “The industry that contributes the most value will be prioritized”

With the favorable environmental impact statement of the Xunta, the path for the macrocellulose that Altri projects for Palas de Rei (A Ulloa, Lugo) is clear in the offices of the autonomous administration. But the Minister of Economy and Industry, María Jesús Lorenzana, insisted on the press conference on the environmental process that there is an immediate stumbling block for these industrial plans: a connection to the electricity grid is needed. Specifically, that a substation is built so that the factory can be supplied with energy. And that depends on the central government. The Ministry for Ecological Transition has already warned that the Electricity Planning works are already underway with the 2030 horizon and that “industrial demands that can contribute the most added value will be prioritized.”

That is, the Ministry emphasizes that it is still analyzing what the needs and what projects must first go among the many that will need connection to the electricity grid. Altri is one of them. Ecological transition sources explain that this planning will begin the process of public information in a matter of weeks. Before, the central government will make three -band meetings (Ministry, Electricity and the Autonomous Communities one by one) to listen to which projects consider most relevant in each territory.

The Minister insisted that this connection is basic for Altri to go ahead and that the viability “depends absolutely” on the central government. The factory still has to receive the final permission of the Xunta, but even how much it has it, according to Lorenzana, it would not be logical for the company to start the work without having the guarantee that there will be that electrical substation: “I am almost saying this motu proprio: It makes no sense that the construction of a factory that has no electrical connection begins, ”said Lorenzana.