Red Eléctrica is taking part in different projects and causes to help mitigate the damage caused by the COVID-19 health crisis. All these initiatives are in line with our commitment to sustainability in relation to the development of our environment and its reality.
The current health emergency that we are experiencing as a result of the spread of COVID-19 demands that we all make an effort to alleviate its effects on both the economy and society. The Red Eléctrica Group, as a manager of critical and essential infrastructures for the proper functioning of basic services, has set up and is promoting initiatives and actions to help reduce the impact of the pandemic.
This collapse of the health systems and paralysis of economic activity is having a special impact on the most vulnerable groups. In a way, the coronavirus pandemic is not only testing our immune system, but also our social cohesion.
Aware of this situation, Red Eléctrica refuses to look the other way and, therefore, it is collaborating in different actions focusing on the groups that are most affected by the health crisis and its side effects. Among other initiatives, the company is paying special attention to vulnerable families and the elderly, and contributing to projects aimed at strengthening the production of medical material and the maintenance of economic activity in rural Spain.
Because #EsteVirusLoParamosUnidos (we stop this virus together), these are some of the areas on which Red Eléctrica is focusing its attention:
We are promoting collective and collaborative innovation against coronavirus with The Open Ventilator project, which aims to help hospitals save lives with a new artificial ventilator developed by a team of young researchers, engineers and doctors. The first 40 units will be distributed to different hospitals in Spain very soon.
"Huerta Próxima" is part of the Intervegas federal platform and has the support of Red Eléctrica. Its objective is to contribute to mitigate the impact that the coronavirus crisis is having on local commerce. It is a technological solution that will help more than 300 producers throughout Spain to sell their products online and directly to consumers.
The Red Eléctrica Group has lent a 3D printer to the MakerSpace of the Library Service of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for the manufacture of health protection equipment. Specifically, with this device and seven more units, more than 800 face protectors have already been made and distributed in various health centres on the Islands as well as among members of the State Security Forces, pharmacies and retirement homes for the elderly.
Red Eléctrica collaborates with the Department of Education of the Castile and Leon Regional Government and Startup OLÉ for the creation of an innovative technological platform to help society face the new health and economic emergency situation. This is, therefore, a call for innovation, creativity and the hope of creating a different community that moves forward together into the future.
The Son Espases and Son Llátzer hospitals, in Palma de Mallorca, and the Can Misses hospital, in Ibiza, have received bluetooth headsets donated by Red Eléctrica in order to help people who have been hospitalised as a result of COVID-19 to keep in touch with their families, especially those who are elderly. In this way, patients will be able to find out about their loved ones through the mobile devices of health personnel.
We have joined the campaign of the Ministry of Equality and the Institute for Women and Equal Opportunities to support the victims of gender violence during this period of confinement caused by COVID-19.
We have joined forces with the Federation of Rural Women's Associations (FADEMUR) to help small farms in the rural world that are already suffering the effects of this crisis. We are acquiring their perishable products and donating them to institutions and groups that need everyone's support.
The initiative has been promoted by Enagás, Red Eléctrica, CLH, Iberdrola, BP, EIT InnoEnergy and Acciona. It is aun urgent call to attract and financially support innovative projects that offer effective responses to help alleviate the economic and social impact of COVID-19.
Red Eléctrica has joined the "Cruz Roja Responde” (the Red Cross responds) project, an initiative launched by the NGO to cover the basic needs of 25,000 vulnerable families in order to mitigate the effects of the virus.
The epicentre of this brainstorming is currently in Soria, where El Hueco, a non-profit space for social entrepreneurship, is organising the "Hackatón Rural COVID-19" on 8th April with the support of Red Eléctrica. This is an online meeting in which everyone is encouraged to send in proposals and innovative solutions to tackle this crisis together.
