LA LÍNEA VERTICAL, as a leading company that applies the safest rope access techniques in the sector, we can participate in all stages of the life of a thermal power plant: design, construction, maintenance, and decommissioning. We do this with our industrial rescue group, but we also provide support in the maintenance and repair of chimneys and large industrial structures, among many other jobs.
The thermal sector, especially conventional power plants – those that obtain electricity from the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, although they also use others such as natural gas and fuel oil – are an important focus of work for LA LÍNEA VERTICAL, and since our creation we have regularly participated in maintenance tasks.
We have specifically developed the project called “Implementation of rescue techniques in thermal power plants”, which we have been implementing since 2011, which includes analysis of areas of difficult access and confined spaces, planning of specific rescue procedures for each space in each power plant, specific training of personnel in these procedures in 16-hour training cycles and supply of specific rescue/evacuation materials.

The rescue support group, essential in the face of decommissioning
Conventional thermal power plants – as opposed to combined cycle plants, which use a gas turbine and a steam turbine – have been facing a decade of closure throughout the European Union in the face of decarbonization policies, including in Spain, where the aim is for greenhouse gas emissions to be neutral by 2050 at the latest.
Because of this energy transition towards cleaner energies, at LA LÍNEA VERTICAL we have also been working on the decommissioning of some of these thermoelectric plants, a gradual process that usually takes around five years.
Vertical work is very necessary, even more so in these large-scale tasks where up to 300 or 400 people work. At LA LÍNEA VERTICAL we guarantee more solutions, more speed, more savings, and more safety. A rescue support group is always essential to reduce emergency situations and, in the event of an accident occurring during the decommissioning of a thermal power plant, to act as quickly as possible.
In Spain, all coal-fired thermal power plants are scheduled to be shut down, with the exception of two: the Es Murterar plant (Majorca), which will remain idle until 2026 to supply the Balearic Islands, and the Aboño plant (Asturias), which also reuses steel gases from the nearby ArcelorMittal plant.
Energy crisis could postpone planned closures
The last three plants that are on the verge of closing, and in fact are operating in the shutdown period, are those of As Pontes (A Coruña), Soto de Ribera (Asturias) and Los Barrios (Cádiz). However, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, after receiving a report from Red Eléctrica de España (REE), authorized the closure of only two of the four groups at the As Pontes plant, owned by Endesa, this September.
The other two As Pontes groups have been conditioned to the evolution of the electricity market, as they are considered necessary to reinforce the electricity capacity. These are the effects of the war in Ukraine on the energy market and at the gates of a winter that is expected to be cold, also due to the lack of natural gas. Europe, in fact, has embarked on reactivating coal-fired power plants. In Spain, until the last few months, both the government and the electricity sector have insisted that there is no turning back. However, the uncertainty caused by the energy crisis may postpone the plans. For the time being, the closure of As Pontes is no longer imminent.