The president of the Consell de Mallorca, Catalina Cladera, has announced the purchase of the Alcanada thermal power station. The President of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol, the CEO of Endesa, Martí Ribas, and representatives of the Alcúdia Town Council took part in the event.

“We are recovering the Alcanada power station. This place is the heritage of all Mallorcan men and women,” said Cladera, who pointed out that it is now definitively preserved from any attempt to alter its physiognomy. The president explained that with this purchase the Consell is taking a definitive step towards the protection of this entire environment, the decontamination and rehabilitation of the industrial remains.

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At the beginning of this year, the Heritage Commission of the Consell urged the start of the proceedings for the declaration of the Aucanada power station as an Asset of Cultural Interest. This declaration will become final in 2023. This declaration of BIC recognises the heritage and historical value of this set of industrial architecture, the power plant designed by Vázquez Molezún, and the annexed village of the Mallorcan architect Ferragut.

“With the purchase of the Alcanada power station, the Consell de Mallorca gives meaning to the declaration of BIC, and closes a long period of work to preserve this industrial heritage and lay the foundations so that all of Mallorca can admire and enjoy it with a very ambitious project such as the Alcúdia Tech Mar,” said Cladera, who also recalled that the Alcúdia town council and the Consell had already tried to recover the thermal power station in the 2007 legislature.

For her part, the president of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol, stressed the importance of its recovery: “This space gives us many opportunities, because it has a very strong historical significance, with roots in the history of Alcúdia and the island. We are updating the industrial heritage to the needs of the 21st century, directing it towards green and clean energies,” he said.

The Consell de Mallorca already plans to begin decontamination of the land and facilities in 2023. That is why the budgets that we expect to approve at the end of the month already set aside an item of one million euros to plan this decontamination. Fibre cement and asbestos, present in the constructions of the 50s and 60s of power plants like this one. It will also be necessary to check the subsoil to remove possible spills of fuel oil or heavy metals.
To meet the cost of this decontamination, the Consell will have around 5 million euros at its disposal from the Just Transition Funds that the Alcúdia area will receive, precisely to help dismantle the Es Murterar power plant.

The Recovery of Alcanada will become more visible in a second phase, which contemplates the restoration of the most emblematic parts of the power station: the two emblematic chimneys, the halls where the generators are located, the control rooms, the pipelines, the coal conveyor belt and the concrete canopy.

The first of Alcanada’s three turbines were commissioned in 1957. For 25 years Alcanada supplied electricity to a large part of Mallorca, in a location that allowed the easy supply of coal and other supplies from ships arriving at the port. The construction of the more modern and efficient Murterar power station made this infrastructure obsolete. It ceased producing electricity in 1982. The area has been degraded by years of inactivity. It is currently not possible to visit the various buildings for safety reasons.

Now, at the end of 2022, the Consell is leading a recovery process that will mean a second life that will highlight the fact that one day, 65 years ago, the Alcanada power station produced the megawatts that gave light to homes and factories in Mallorca.

Finally, Cladera remarked that recovering this place leaves out speculation, preserves a part of the most recent industrial heritage and makes it possible for the facilities to have a new cultural and social use. “And the Mallorca of the future cannot be built without knowing how we got here,” said the president of the Consell.