Barcelona City Council’s First Deputy Mayor, Laia Bonet, visited the construction site of the plant, which Sorigué is building in a joint venture with Comsa. The event was attended by Xavier Puyal Torra, director of Districlima, the company managing the urban network; Frank Lacroix, executive vice president of Engie; and Janis Rey, general manager of Engie Spain (a Districlima shareholder).  

Sorigué’s Catalonia Building Division, responsible for the project, was represented by its director, Marc Salvadó; group leader, Oriol Giménez; site manager, David Rubio; production manager, Marta Sanmartín; and foreman, Juan Carlos Madrigal. Also present were Natalia Gómez Carbajo, CPA technician from the Building Division, and Esther Zafra, administrative staff from Infrastructures.  

Underground plant 

The new thermal energy plant for Barcelona’s heating and cooling network will be fully underground in Poblenou Park, opposite Bogatell Beach, with a budget of 19 million euros.  

The system will process seawater with an initial capacity of 42 MWf, requiring the construction of a 677-meter-long underground intake microtunnel and a tower, which involves dredging and filling with riprap material.  

The works include building a precast concrete structure reaching 13 meters deep and installing a return pipeline to connect the new plant to the existing avenue collector. 

Currently, 192 buildings in the area are connected to the city’s energy supply chain, and with this new plant, the heating and cooling distribution network will gradually expand to 262 buildings by 2032.  

New energy model  

Districlima manages this urban network for generating heating and cooling, supplying heating systems, air conditioning, and domestic hot water for homes, private businesses, and public facilities. It contributes to the city’s energy efficiency strategy by reducing carbon dioxide emissions.  

Once the plant under construction in Poblenou Park is operational, it is estimated to prevent the emission of up to 339,727 tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) over the next seven years. The project is promoted by the private company Engie, the public company Tersa, and the Institute for Energy Diversification and Savings (IDAE). 

This energy model, launched in Barcelona in 2004, operates two plants: one in the Fòrum, which reuses steam from Tersa’s incinerator for heating systems, and another on Tànger Street, which cools buildings using seawater and ice. At the latter, Sorigué was responsible for constructing both the above-ground buildings and the underground plant, as well as a large 2,115 m² container for water-ice storage.