The Generalitat has designated the planned Catalunya Media City at Les Tres Xemeneies in Sant Adrià de Besòs a strategic project of the country, a status intended to accelerate administrative procedures and support its future electricity needs.

For audiovisual, digital and technology businesses considering the site, the immediate consequence is that the project can seek priority for connections to the state electricity grid if extra capacity is required. Residents are not being asked to take any action under the decision, and the reports do not set out a public application process or a timetable for business openings.

The development would transform the former Besòs power station and surrounding area into a complex for audiovisual, digital, video-game and technology activity. The Generalitat’s executive council, the Consell Executiu, approved the strategic designation, according to reports by La Vanguardia and El Periódico.

Electricity connections form the central practical change

The designation will support a request to the Spanish state for Catalunya Media City to be recognised as a strategic investment project. Under Royal Decree-law 7/2026, a Spanish state law reported by La Vanguardia, that category gives priority in allocating electricity-grid connection capacity and facilitates administrative processing.

  • The project is intended to receive preference when seeking state-grid connection capacity.
  • The priority framework applies alongside housing and public services, which Dani Pérez, coordinator of the Generalitat’s Interdepartmental Commission for the Energy Transition, said are also prioritised.
  • The aim is to ensure that future occupiers can obtain sufficient electrical power as the complex expands.
“The intention is to ensure that this area can have all the power it needs for future developments,” Eva Giménez, secretary-general of the Department of the Presidency, said.

Giménez said the project had reached “a significant level of maturity” following the initial approval of its urban-planning management instruments, according to La Vanguardia.

Officials cite growing demand from prospective firms

Pérez said that grid connections had previously been allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. The new legal framework allows housing, public services and strategic investment projects to be prioritised, he said.

“We want to ensure that anyone who wants to develop a project there has sufficient electrical power to do so, and that nobody is told no because there is not enough energy,” Pérez said.

The reports do not specify how much power Catalunya Media City will require, when a request for a grid connection will be submitted, or which companies will locate there. Businesses and residents seeking updates will need to monitor future notices from the Generalitat and the Spanish state on the strategic-investment request and electricity connection process.

Reported by Source Text Link, Gerardo Santos, Clara Blanchar, Fede Cedó, larazon.es, Jordi Ribalaygue, Gerard Pruna, Laura Serra, Antoni Ribas Tur, archello.com, Reyyan Dogan, barna.news, by Oriol Fernandez, Alejandro Díaz, catalannews.com, elmundo.es, Metrópoli Abierta - Urban Life.