• Of the 6,102 electrical substations analyzed across the country, 3,387 are located in municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants, representing 55.5% of the total, according to the latest analysis by Foro Industria y Energía (FIE) and Opina 360.

  • 40% of production centers in Spain are also located in municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants, according to a study by the Promarca association.

  • The analysis reveals that, of the remaining 7,400 MW of available capacity, 4,335 MW—58.6%—are found in this type of locality.

    The local sphere is the repository of a fundamental part of the country’s industrial strength.

  • Nearly nine out of ten Spanish substations already lack available capacity, directly impacting the territories that most need to develop industrial activity.

April 17, 2026.

Spain’s energy map maintains a direct and profound relationship with its territorial capillarity. According to the latest analysis by Foro Industria y Energía (FIE), in collaboration with Opina 360, of the 6,102 electrical substations analyzed across the country, 3,387 are located in municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants. This figure, representing 55.5% of the total, positions rural and semi-rural Spain not as a secondary player, but as the true energy backbone upon which European industrial sovereignty must pivot.

This territorial relevance is reinforced by the reality of the productive fabric: according to a study by the Promarca association, 40% of production centers in Spain are also located in these municipalities of fewer than 20,000 inhabitants. Far from being purely agricultural or service-based environments, the local sphere constitutes a repository of a fundamental part of the country’s industrial strength and, as the data shows, is where a significant share of the electrical infrastructure required to power it is physically concentrated.

“Electrical Gold” and the End of Industrial Abstraction

It is often a mistake to treat industry as an abstract entity floating above national strategies. However, industry always has a postal address and, above all, a physical need for connection. For smaller municipalities, industrial development depends on a combination of three critical factors that determine their future viability: space (available land), people (local talent), and what could be termed “electrical gold”: real access to the power grid.

The presence of these 3,387 substations in small localities effectively means having the “plug” installed precisely where the territory most needs to retain population and generate wealth. In essence, it is the infrastructure that enables the productive fabric to connect with the energy transition.

Territorial Snapshot: Industry Breathing at the Local Level

The provincial analysis reveals that dependence on small municipalities is, in many regions, a structural feature of the grid. In provinces such as Huesca, 90.5% of substations are located in municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants—a trend strongly mirrored in Ourense (89.1%), Soria (88.2%), and Teruel (87.8%). In these areas, virtually all electrical connection capacity is managed from small local councils. The same holds true in central Spain, where Salamanca (86.9%), Guadalajara (86.5%), and Segovia (84.2%) display an electricity network deeply rooted in the local level.

In these cases, the data follows a certain logic: most settlements in these provinces are small municipalities. However, even in territories with a stronger urban industrial tradition, the weight of rural areas remains decisive. In Gipuzkoa, 62.7% of network nodes are in small municipalities, while in Bizkaia the figure reaches 56.7%. In provinces such as Barcelona (44.4%), Valencia (41.2%), or Seville (38.2%), the role of these municipalities is also highly relevant and, according to FIE experts, will only grow due to grid access saturation and the relocation of industry toward areas with greater connection capacity.

At the opposite end, industrial and demographic geography is reflected in more urbanized provinces such as Madrid (14.6%), Cádiz (15.1%), or Murcia (15.7%), where substations are mostly concentrated in large population centers.

The State of This “Electrical Gold”

This distribution raises a question that cannot be overlooked: what is the condition of this “electrical gold” in the territories where it is most needed? The answer, as highlighted in the latest report by FIE and Opina 360 on available grid capacity, is not reassuring. However, saturation coexists with a concentration of opportunity: of the approximately 7,400 MW of available capacity still remaining in the system, 4,335 MW are located in municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants. This means that 58.6% of the country’s remaining energy capacity is concentrated precisely at the local level.

“Small municipalities not only host the majority of substations, but also the bulk of available capacity for new industrial development. They therefore represent a structural opportunity for reindustrialization that cannot be ignored in energy policy,” notes Juan Francisco Caro, director of Opina 360.

What the Data Suggests

This combination of figures is not intended as a closed conclusion, but rather as an invitation to grant greater prominence in energy and industrial policy to a territory that often appears primarily in debates on depopulation. Small municipalities have land and, in many cases, the political will to attract investment. Moreover, as shown, they host a significant share of the country’s electrical infrastructure.

“European industrial sovereignty is not built solely from the top down; it is secured by ensuring that this 55.5% of local substations ceases to be latent assets and becomes active tools for competitiveness and territorial cohesion,” states Albert Concepción, president of FIE. The urgent challenge is to ensure that this asset remains accessible through grid policies and planning that recognize where growth opportunities truly lie. Only then will industrial sovereignty cease to be a boardroom strategy and become a tangible, addressable reality.