Red Eléctrica Española (REE) which operates the electricity grid in Spain has installed a 132 kV fibre optic submarine cable between Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. Laying down this new cable has doubled the kilovolts transported between the two islands and markedly increased the quality and security of the electricity supply as well as increased the capacity for growth in renewable energies on both islands. The cable is protected with ECOncrete blocks, developed by Israeli company BlueTech, which boasts technology to promote the growth of marine life on concrete infrastructures. Installation of the cable met with favourable environmental impact reports on both islands.
With a total route of 17.022 km, the cable runs underground 1.76 km from the cable landing point in Las Coloradas to the substation in Playa Blanca; then runs underwater for 14.6 km at between ½ metre and 1 metre below the seabed in the Bocaina Strait. It finishes with another land section of 638.7 m. that covers the distance between Caletilla Negra (Corralejo) and the substation in La Oliva, Fuerteventura.
This is the first non-port project in Spain to use ECOncrete, after the docks at Vigo, Malaga and Cala Rajada (Majorca). The chemical composition, coating, shape and 3D surface texture of the ECOncrete promotes twice as much biodiversity as conventional cable armouring, improves carbon absorption and water quality and reduces the ratio of invasive species in favour of native species.
