Asturias

the plan to turn Asturias into the great energy shipyard that Europe no longer knows how to build

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For decades, the West operated under a mirage: believing that making things was no longer relevant and that the future lay only in software. However, China has woken up Europe of that dream, showing him that national sovereignty depends, ultimately, on knowing how to melt metal. Now that “bath of reality” has just docked in Asturias. The Port of Gijón, El Musel, has ceased to be just a strategic enclave for local coal and steel to become the epicenter of a global ambition. The Asturian group Zima and the Chinese giant Dajin Offshore they have sealed an alliance to build a foundation plant for offshore wind. However, there is a problem and size does matter, a lot. The landing of a colossus. Dajin and Zima have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop a facility that will not only manufacture components, but will function as a port for marshalling —the logistics area where these pieces are collected and pre-assembled—. As detailed in The Economistthe objective is to supply the European market and alleviate bottlenecks in the sector. Dajin is not just any actor. As detailed in local media, It is the largest Chinese private manufacturer of offshore wind structures. This alliance will reinforce the strategic role of the region in the European energy transition. The Gordian knot: the crisis of space. Zima’s initial project occupied 153,753 square meters on the North Pier. However, the entry of Dajin changes everything: the multinational need more space. Making XXL “monopiles” is not like making cars. According to technical data provided by Energetica21Dajin has the capacity to manufacture structures up to 12 meters in diameter, 120 meters in length and 2,500 tons in weight. “Moving and storing these steel cylinders requires massive esplanades that are currently compromised,” warn industry sources. in LNE. El Musel finds himself facing a puzzle. The land requested by Zima borders Ionway’s future battery plant. As LNE explainsthe Port Authority is studying with “the best disposition” how to meet this demand, either by extending towards the sea or looking for non-contiguous plots. An “Electrostate” in the Cantabrian Sea. To understand this project you have to look at the global context. Today, China builds 74% of the planet’s renewable energy. By settling in Gijón, Dajin brings what the West has lost: heavy industrial capacity. As Miquel Zorita, director of Zima, points out, in The Economistthe desire is to integrate local suppliers. This is vital because European wind turbine manufacturers such as Siemens Gamesa or Vestas are going through a deep profitability crisis. Chinese technology in Asturias could be the necessary oxygen ball, even if it is under a foreign flag. The industrial clock against the bureaucratic clock. The success of this operation will not be measured only in the millions of euros of investment or in the jobs created, but in the size of the facilities it will depend exclusively on the space they obtain in the port. Asturias has before it the opportunity to stop being a “quarry” of resources and become a center of high added value. But, as Craig Tindale’s thesis warnsa civilization that sacrifices its material base ends up losing its independence. Gijón is redesigning its map; Now it remains to be seen if El Musel has enough soil to support so much weight. Image | Bafpg and ShellAsp Xataka | Inspecting an offshore wind turbine no longer requires stopping it: the drone that uses AI to ‘x-ray’ moving blades

Asturias has the electrical network so saturated that a simple failure would be enough to put the supply in check this summer

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A year ago everything indicated that Asturias was going to become the new Spanish energy storage hub. But these plans, which were going to help integrate renewables, alleviate the grid and attract industry, collided with reality. Today, the panorama is very different. Not only has the region paralyzed new storage facilities, but an official report has just confirmed a more worrying diagnosis: Asturias is saturated with energy, but does not know where to put it. In short, the central area’s electrical grid is at its limit. The CNMC uncovers the problem. The trigger It is an apparently technical conflict between EDP (Hidrocantábrico Distribución) and Red Eléctrica de España for access to the Carrió substation. As local media have reportedthe distributor requested to replace two transformers to increase its capacity from 513 MW to 665 MW, but REE rejected it, arguing that the network could not supply so much simultaneous demand. This rejection took the case to the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC), which issued a resolution with a forceful message: the transport network in the central zone is saturated, it cannot grant new permits, there is “relevant overcapacity” and there is a “risk to the security of supply in the event of a simple failure, in the summer season.” Furthermore, the commission itself recognizes that the case dates back to 2007, when the separation between distribution and transportation occurred and assets were transferred to REE without documenting the guaranteed access capacities. As the official report explains, for years REE and EDP operated “as always”, but with opposite interpretations about how much capacity was really assured for the Asturian network. What does it mean to be saturated? Although it may seem like a technical concept, the CNMC has detailed in its report a more precise image of what is happening. To begin with, saturation means that the network cannot grant even one more access. The regulator detects a “total saturation of capacity, without the possibility of granting new access or connection permissions.” This means that no new industries, no renewable parks and no storage projects can connect: the grid is literally full. Added to this blockage is another underlying problem. The central Asturias network does not meet the minimum legal criterion known as N-1, which requires guaranteeing supply even if a key component fails. However, the CNMC itself confirms that this requirement is not met: If a transformer or main line falls, there is no alternative path capable of absorbing the energy, making any incident a potential risk. The situation is even more delicate according to the data. The regulator’s report indicates that two large electro-intensive consumers already absorb 686 MW, to which we must add the 200 MW that EDP needs to feed the distribution network. In total, more than 800 MW connected. The problem is that the safe capacity in summer – when the lines perform worse due to high temperatures – is 754 MW. In other words: there is more connected power than the network can safely support. And the room for maneuver is practically non-existent. According to the CNMC, if Cardoso’s 400/220 kV transformer failed, the entire area would be supplied only by a 220 kV line that does not support current consumption in summer. In practical terms, this means that any simple failure could trigger a real supply problem in the middle of the summer season. The point is that there is energy, but it cannot be moved. The paradox is evident: Asturias wants more renewables, it wants batteries, it wants to electrify its industry and it wants to attract new strategic projects. But all this growth requires a robust electrical grid with margin. And right now, that margin does not exist. Carrió’s transformers could handle more power, yes, but that is unimportant if the lines that connect them are already at their limit. Even the future conversion to gas of the Aboño thermal power plant —designated by the Principality as future relief— does not solve the current problem, because the bottleneck is in transportation, not in generation. How did we get here? In addition to the historical conflict between REE and EDP, a chain of factors have aggravated the situation. One of the most decisive is the increase in power assigned to some large industrial consumers. In 2022, Red Eléctrica granted an electro-intensive customer an increase of 132 MW, reaching 450 MW of power between Carrió and Tabiella. The regulator clarifies that this decision did not violate the regulations, but it does highlight the lack of coordination with EDP, which was not informed and saw how the capacity margin of the area was exhausted practically at once. Added to this problem is another longer-term problem. As El Comercio remembersthe necessary reinforcements for the central network have been planned for more than 20 years, but were never executed. The result is that Asturias faces industrial electrification and the growth expected for the coming years with a network that has not been updated at the pace of demand. The evolution of the local generation. The situation is complicated as cogeneration, a key technology for producing electricity and heat near industrial centers, has collapsed. According to figures published by El ComercioAsturias has lost 82% of cogeneration production in six years. This implies less energy generated at source and, therefore, more need to bring electricity from outside through a network that is already saturated. The economic and environmental impact is also notable: 60 million euros less industrial turnover and 230,000 additional tons of CO₂. And now what? The Asturian Government insists that the problem will be resolved with the 400 kV central ringa gigantic infrastructure included in the energy planning for 2030. This ring will double the electric transportation capacity in the metropolitan area and will allow it to absorb the planned industrial growth. For its part, Red Eléctrica you already have authorization for the new Cardoso substation, key to that ring, with an investment of 26.5 million euros. However, the CNMC warns that the problem is … Read more

Last October was the second driest in the last 100 years. And Asturias has taken the worst part

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The storm that It is landing from this Thursday In our country we should not be fooled: we are not receiving enough rain for the time of year we are in. And we can say much more: Asturias is bearing the brunt of the droughtbeing somewhat surprising because we all have the image of a green landscape and constant rainfall. The notice. The AEMET national report It was already quite clear when he reviewed October 2025, pointing out that it has been one of the warmest and second driest months so far in the 21st century in Spain as a whole. But if you zoom in on some regions, the truth is that the situation is much more alarming. If we focus on the monthly climatological summary for October 2025 in Asturiasthe AEMET points out that it has been ‘warm and very dry’. And this is something that is confirmed by alarming data: Rainfall decreased, with 37.4 l/m² in October, 71% less than the reference value for the region in the months of October. This also makes it one of the driest since 1961. Hotter than usual: average temperatures of 14.6 °C, being 1.5 °C above the reference between 1991 and 2020, with average maximums of 19.7 °C and minimums of 9.4 °C. Throughout Spain. Beyond Asturias, the AEMET describes a very dry pattern in much of the interior and northern peninsula in October, with areas of extremely dry nature in sectors of the eastern Cantabrian coast, which fits with the marked deficit observed in Asturias and its Cantabrian environment. This contrasts quite a bit with other areas that had episodes of very intense rain, as in the case of western Andalusia, where it is getting used to having less rain. At the national level, the fact that October 2025 is the 16th driest in the series and, at the same time, the sixth warmest, reinforces the signal of warmer Octobers and the high interannual variability of rainfall, with October 2024 as the wettest in the entire historical series as a close counterpoint.​ The reservoirs. If there is not enough rain, we are faced with a drought situation that mainly affects the reservoirs. In the Asturian case, the Alfilorios reservoir is around 30% of its capacityd, which translates into a pre-alert situation for the Cantabrian Hydrographic Confederation, while Tanes remains below 50%which already affects supply planning in the central area of ​​Asturias. Given this situation, the Oviedo City Council has already activated measures anti-drought, such as the closure of ornamental fountains without a closed circuit, continuous jet fountains, the reduction of flushing and the cessation of irrigation of parks. Rains come. Although in Spain we are already seeing the arrival of intense rains with storms such as Claudiathe reality is that recovery from drought will depend on many factors such as the effective accumulation of precipitation and its distribution over time to feed reservoirs and aquifers. Images | Keith Mapeki Bogomil Mihaylov In Xataka | The two most important weather models in the world are discussing whether Santander is going to freeze next week. And the cold is winning

Asturias and Cantabria travel on trains that are more than 40 years old and their renewal has been delayed again

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Year 2020. Renfe awards CAF the delivery of 31 trains to operate on the Cercanías services of Asturias and Cantabria. The reason was as simple as it was understandable: the average age of the fleet was already 28 years. Four years later, the renewal of the promised trains is once again delayed. It’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. “In principle”. This is what Álvaro Fernández Heredia, president of Renfe, has confirmed, who a few days ago assured that the promised trains for Asturias and Cantabria will not arrive until 2027 in an interview with the specialized media. Trenvista. If the plans are fulfilled, of course. And these same trains should arrive next year. In 2024, Transport reiterated its intention that the first tests would be carried out in the first half of 2026 and it was assured that we would see them on the roads that same year. Last September, yes in 2025, was still expected that the trains would make an appearance in a few months. Now, Fernández Heredia says that “in principle, these trains will be in service in 2027.” A statement that leaves fear of new future delays floating. The trains. What Renfe awarded to CAF was the delivery of 31 new trains to be distributed between the Cercanías services of Cantabria and Asturias. When said award was announced It was mentioned that the intention was to renew a fleet that was already an average of 28 years old. It was 2020 and the contract was valued at 258 million euros. Five years later, the residents of Asturias and Cantabria will continue traveling on trains with more than four decades behind them in some cases. At the moment, there is no trace of the 31 Metric Gauge trains (25 electric and six hybrid) that should be able to circulate at a maximum of 100 km/h and have space to transport bicycles. The tunnels. It was the great scandal of this award. In 2023, when CAF began building the trains, it found that something strange was happening with the order. The trains ordered They didn’t enter through the tunnels… more or less. The trains that were intended to be launched are too wide for the Asturian and Cantabrian infrastructure. Order FOM/1630/2015established new measures for gauges on newly built roads. These new measures aim to leave more space between the train and the walls of the tunnels to facilitate evacuations in case of breakdown and were the ones that were sent from Adif to CAFwithout taking into account the infrastructure prior to 2015. Hence it was said that the new trains for Asturias and Cantabria They did not enter through the tunnels. Faced with this situation, there was no choice but to ask: is it better to change the trains or change the infrastructure? Given the cost of the second intervention, the first was chosen. Yes, sure. Despite everything, the intention was the same: to maintain the plans that the trains would arrive in 2026. Now we know that this will not be the case and that they will do so in 2027… “in principle”, in the words of the president of Renfe himself. In The Commerce They review all the occasions in which Renfe has maintained its intention to have the trains ready next year. In addition to the cases already mentioned, the Government reiterated its intentions in February 2024 and July 2024. Since then, silence. “It rains in the wet”. This is what the Cantabrian Government complains about when asked by The Confidential. The regional Executive focuses on the fact that this latest delay is just one more of all the drifts that the case has had and the constant problems that citizens experience. The Association of Rail and Mobility Users (Affecom) highlights that from “Luarca to Oviedo there are about 90 kilometers and it takes almost three hours. (…) It takes us the same time to go to Madrid as it does to travel 90 kilometers through the Principality of Asturias.” And they highlight another detail: there are many breakdowns in stations where there is no coverage of any kind. This is a problem because, first of all, the passenger has no way to communicate by mobile phone to notify of a delay. It would not be (so) serious if it were exceptional but this summer, between July and August, the Asturian PP assures that 800 incidents were recorded that affected 1,000 services. Photo | André Marques 432 In Xataka | “In 1961 it took Bilbao three hours and five minutes. Now it takes three and ten”: Cantabria and Spain’s drama with the train

1.2 million fewer places, with Asturias as the most affected

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The airline has announced a new cut of 1.2 million seats in Spanish regional airports for the 2026 summer season. This It is already the third reduction consecutive in a year and leaves Asturias without any Ryanair operations. The hardest blow. Asturias is left without any Ryanair flights, becoming the airport most affected by this decision. Although the airline has not detailed the specific impact on other regional airports, this cut is in addition to the 800,000 seats eliminated last summer and the million eliminated in the current winter season. In total, three million fewer places in just twelve months. The battle of rates. Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, holds Aena directly responsible and the Spanish Government to make regional airports “uncompetitive” by raising rates of 7%. According to O’Learythe airport manager charges similar prices at small and large aerodromes, which penalizes destinations with less traffic. The company denounces that these airports operate with a capacity of 10% or 20% and demands reductions of at least 50% in rates to stimulate traffic. Aena’s response. Its executive vice president, Javier Marín, rejects the accusations. He assures that the increase represents only about 30 cents per passenger and denies that the rates are the same at all airports. According to Marín, a small airport can charge two euros per passenger in the growth phase, compared to 14 euros for Madrid-Barajas. Marín describes the situation as “blackmail” and points out that other airlines are occupying the routes that Ryanair abandons. Where does the capacity go?. The airline will move part of the seats eliminated to Spanish airports with the highest traffic such as Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Palma and Malaga, where their offer will increase by 600,000 seats. The rest will be reallocated to countries that Ryanair says offer more favorable conditions: Italy, Morocco, Croatia, Sweden and Hungary, where governments have eliminated environmental taxes or reduced airport charges. And now what. Ryanair keeps the door open to reversing the cuts if Aena cancels the planned rate increase and substantially lowers prices at regional airports. Meanwhile, competitors like Volotea have already announced that They will take advantage of the gaps left by the Irishwith an increase of 16.4% in its national offer, especially in destinations such as Asturias. Cover image | Gabor Koszegi In Xataka | CAF decided to do business in Israel: it was the beginning of a domino effect that has left it without the Barcelona metro

The wolf has been a huge hot political potato for years. In Asturias they will allow the hunters to dejize them

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In Spain there is a group that has been aware of the wolves. And they are not the zoologists, animalists, hunters or farmers. Even more so that they are politicians who have spent the last years discussing The legal status of the Canis lupusa delicate issue that has generated a deep debate. The last arrives from Asturias, where the Principality has taken A decision Radical: Allow hunters to shoot the wolves in certain community reserves. Not everyone believes it is legal. What happened? What Asturias will allow That hunters shoot Lobos during their beaters in certain areas of the Principality, those reserves in which there has been an increase in cattle attacks. The decision, which has already generated an intense debate and has encountered The frontal opposition of the animalists, directly connects with a series of legal changes that have gradually cracking the legal shielding of which the Canis lupus. What do Asturias want to do? Open the door to the hunters to participate in the reduction of the population of Lobos. As a “complementary control method”, the Ministry of Rural Affairs has decided that hunters of those regional reserves “in which a greater number of damage to cattle have been detected” can shoot wolves during hunts scheduled to capture other species. That is, it gives the green light to the hunters so that (if certain conditions are met) they can reduce them while looking for prey. “The goal is Clarifies the Principalitywhich has also asked that in the “most affected” hunting preserves the guards participate in the controls together with the natural environment agents. Why do you do it? To answer that question you have to go back several months, to April, when the Government of Asturias presented its annual “road map” (applicable until the end of March 2026) to “reduce damage to the primary sector and social conflict” related to the wolves. That is, its ‘Wolf Management Plan’an official document that among other things clarified how many catches of Canis lupus The Asturian authorities have authorized. In that document It was revealed that the minimum wolves are around 345 copies and, based on that, the Ministry of Rural Affairs has decided to give green light to “the extraction of a maximum of 53”. Even the maximum number of animals that would be “extracted” in each area of ​​the Principality was required, some guidelines were given on the periods to carry out “the controls” and it was clarified how they will be carried out. Among them, in addition to the beating made by the environmental agents of the Principality, It was already progressing that one of the options contemplated by the plan was to resort directly to the help of hunters in regional reserves. But the wolf was not protected? Throughout the last months the status of the wolf has changed considerably. And with him he has done his legal armor. In Spain the most relevant novelty It happened in March. During the processing of A law of food waste (yes, you have read well) Congress approved several amendments centered on the wolf. And among them there was a specific one that returned the species to the situation in which it was before 2021year in which the Canis lupus It had been added to the list of wild species with special protection (Lespre). In the practice that the wolf appeared in the Lespre valed the hunting of specimens north of the Duero, something that already happened south of the river. The decision of the Congress to take it out meant that the Peninsular North packs lost their armor, which in turn opened the door for the autonomous communities to decide on their hunt. The Principality itself I recognized Last April that launched its ‘Wolf Management Plan’ after the last changes in Lespre. It was not the only one. Cantabria did something similar. In fact rtpa It revealed This same week that the community has already “extracted” more than half of the wolves of the quota authorized for the 2025-2026 period, which translates into 25 copies of a total of 41. And why do you turn to the hunters? That is one of the keys to the controversy that has emerged in Asturias. The Principality explains that it has decided to allow hunters to shoot wolves while looking for other species in reserves for “Increase efficacy” of the plan, which provides for the “extraction” of a maximum of 53 wolves. There are those who have seen in that argument an alarm signal. “If the reason for involving hunters is the difficulty in reaching the number of dead wolves established in the quotas, perhaps the cause is not so much the lack of efficiency of the method to hunt them, but the shortage of wolves itself, something that seems that the Asturian government does not even value,” warns The Wolf Protection Fund, very critical of the new decision of the Principality. How many wolves are there? In spring the regional government calculated that the wolf is present in 83% of the Asturian territory, where some 45 herds inhabit between 360 and 405 animals. “Since 2001, the year in which 22 herds were registered, the population has shown a general growth trend, as well as the damages caused by livestock,” Concrete the Principality. To be more precise, remember that last year damage to 3,257 head of cattle and the cost of compensation grew to exceed the million and a half euros were confirmed. These figures are those that justified the control plan, although It is unknown How many wolves have fallen in the community today. Have there been reactions? Yes. And of different types. The Government insists in which his is a “balanced positioning” between the preservation of the species and the interests of farmers and ranchers, but the truth is that everything related to the legal framework of the wolf has been involved in a deep debate for months. The hunters They recognize Having received the last announcement from the … Read more

The controversy in Asturias for the renowned peoples in Asturian language

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Orlé is one small population of the Council of Casein the Principality of Asturias, of Luenga History and leafy landscapes. For a few years, however, he is immersed in A controversy As peculiar as Espinosa: their neighbors want the place where they live continues to be ‘Orlé’, the name they have been using a lifetime and have learned from their parents and grandparents, not ‘Orllé’, which is the one in A decree which pretends to protect traditional toponymy. The debate is served. What happened? That Orlé He doesn’t want to be ‘Orllé’, but ‘Orlé’. It sounds like macarronic tongue, but in reality it is the summary of a controversy that It has been for years Undouncing the residents of a small parish of the Case Council, in the region of Nalón, Principality of Asturias. At the root of the controversy is a decision that affects something so symbolic, so sensitive (even sacred) as the name of the population. The locals defend that it is ‘Orlé’, but that has not prevented the administration from having chosen the ‘Orllé’ alternative. Where does the problem come from? To understand it you have to go back a few years agoto 2007, when the regional government published A decree with the list of official place names for the case council. There it is clarified that what until now was known above all as ‘Orlé’ would be called ‘Orllé’. In The documentthat reviews the names of the different populations of the municipality, it is clarified that the objective is the “recovery and fixation of the Asturian toponymy” as part of a greater effort to promote the bable language. The Principality of Asturias also emphasizes that the changes are not the result of the whim or are imposed overnight. The decree Part of the Toponymy Advisory Board (JAT), which issued a proposal to the City Council so that it could make observations. However, despite that long processing, the official change of ‘Orlé’ by ‘Orllé’ does not conform to what the neighbors believe it is fair: that the area continues to be called as (insist) He has always done it. But … how was it possible? In A column published in 2024 in New Spainthe representative of the neighbors, Ana Álvarez, denounces that the change was managed in a “poor” way and that the initial proposal that was presented to the case council included “several strange names to the sociolinguistic reality” of the town. For example, ‘Guspriz’ by Buspriz or ‘Ñeves’ by ‘Nieves’. “The majority were subsequently corrected, but ‘Orllé’ was not rectified because the rural parish of Orlé was not summoned to participate in the file formation sessions, nor did the final file be transferred,” Álvarez says. “The neighbors were not consulted, remaining others until, with the population of the decree, Orlé ceased to be the official name of this people.” What did the neighbors do? In addition to gathering to discuss the issue, go to the press and record their deep discomfort, the people of Orlé decided to move card in the offices: he asked the City Council (in which they are framed) to begin the procedures to recover the traditional name of the population and the proposal rose to the Ministry of Culture, Linguistic Policy and Tourism. The problem is that your claim does not seem to have advanced much. In October 2022 The locals already showed their anger for not having received any official response “after nine months of waiting” and Last July They insisted that they were still waiting for a resolution, although they had presented all their historical, sociolinguistic and legal arguments before the JAT. Why is it news? Because the neighbors have made it clear that they are fed up. Although in Orlé They don’t get to hundred of registered, over the weekend part of them starred A performance To make clear (once again) with what name they feel identified: they gathered in a meadow and drawn with their bodies the name of ‘Orlé’ and then taking an aerial photo. At the entrance of the town they have also put a sign in which it can be read “thanks for saying Orlé”, although in reality it is not quite necessary if it is taken into account that someone has gone further and has labeled the signal of the official place name: “Orllé”. Apart from the claims at street level, A few months ago The parish brought its arguments directly to the Toponymy Board. Click on the image to go to Tweet. And what do they argue? Basically, the origin of the ‘Orlé’ name can be traced eight centuries agountil the times of King Alfonso IX, so they consider him “a genuinely Asturian place name.” On the contrary, it happens in his opinion with the ‘Orllé’ form. “It is not a traditional way, because it is not present in the popular speech of the neighbors and the elderly state that even their grandparents have ever used it. Nor does it appear in any historical text. It is only a residual and external variant to the people,” They argue The residents. In case all that was not enough They assure that if at any time ‘Orllé’ has been used to refer to the area has been “with a pejorative spirit.” “To prove that it is not used at all in Orlé, it would be enough to speak with its neighbors and about the mocking use of the toponym ‘Orllé’”, coincides Juan Manuel Estrada, Official Chronicler of the case council. So things, neighbors They assure that the change goes against the initial objective with which it was promoted: protect local toponymy. Is it the only argument? At all. There are those who argue that ‘Orllé’ is not a way out of nowhere and slides that a possible solution is to use the double place name Orllé/Orllé. This was remembered last year in New Spain Ramón D´Andrés, linguist and member of the Academy of the Asturian Llinggua. In A broad article The expert argues … Read more

In Asturias someone paid 37,000 euros for the most expensive cheese on the planet. Then he fell to the ground

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There are expensive cheeses, very expensive cheeses and then there are the cheeses that are sold by the whopping 14,800 euros per kiloas they just checked in Asturias. There, in the town of Arenas, they just proclaimed the most expensive cheese on the planet, a piece of 2.5 kilos with Denomination of Protected Origin of Cabrales that, after the Plant of the judges, has reached neither more nor less than 37,000 euros On a bid. Shortly after the auction was on the ground. Don’t say cheese, di cabrales. Asturias is known for many things. By Your cider, Your houndsits beaches, its mountainous places and also (and rightly) for its cheese. The Cabrales is one of the gastronomic icons of the Principality and to claim it Arenas de Cabrales has celebrated every summer, for decades, A contest which usually arouses interest both inside and outside the region. The appointment is not famous just by giving visibility to Dop Cabrales. The contest arrives accompanied by a bid for the best cheeses in which amounts of infarction are reached, assumable only by privileged pockets. Offer are so high in fact that they have managed to make a place several times in the pages of the Guinness book. It has happened Other editions. And it has happened again in this. A figure: 37,000 euros. The Arenas de Cabrales appointment is divided into several parts. First the jury decides which of the title aspiring cheeses is the best, it has a more attractive aspect and offers better flavor and aroma. Then that same piece goes to auction and businesses interested in taking her to her pantries pujo for her at the crossroads worthy of the Sotheby’s house. In this edition (the 53rd already) the starting price was € 3,000 and participated near a dozen hoteliers from different parts of Asturias (Gijón, Oviedo and Castrillón) and Madrid. The winner was Iván Suárez, owner of El Llagar de Colloto, in Oviedo. It didn’t have it easy. Last year Suarez had already taken home winning cheese by 36,000 eurosa figure that this year exceeded slaughtering. A Madrid cider house matched the figure, another Gijonesa rose the bid to 36,500 and the owner of El Llagar de Colloto ended up setting up the dispute when lifting his palette to offer the whopping of 37,000 for a piece of about 2.5 kg. Himself I calculated which came out at € 14,800/kg. Records at full speed. The truth is that Cabrales accumulates records at more speed than the Guinness organization is capable of digesting them. New Spain remember that this will be the fourth consecutive world plusmarca of Asturian cheese and if you consult The web From the Guinness World Records you will find the curious chance that just two months ago those responsible echoed that the most expensive cheese on the planet is a cabrales auctioned in Asturias for 36,000 euros. It is not a mistake. It is simply the brand that the DOP reached in 2024. It has already been outdated. Does Cabrales cheese have a roof? That is The question That some media have been made in recent days, especially if you take into account the speed with which the offers have grown by the winner of the Arenas contest. The Europa Press agency remember That the winner of this edition already disbursed 14,300 euros in 2018, 20,500 in 2019, 30,000 in 2023 and 36,000 last year, a figure that has been pulverized by the 37,000 of 2025. In the price, however it goes more than the value of the product. The bid is also a huge advertising showcase, both for the Dop Cabrales and for the winning hotelier. Of headlines and anecdotes. “The head of having the most expensive cheese in the world is what leads to this. In the end if the cheese had cost 20,000 euros instead of 37,000 because yes, it would have been the winning cheese of the contest, but we would not have worldwide news, we would not open the news, nor would we have international recognition, which is what we all look for, Suárez confesses to The voice of Asturias. Interestingly this year he has monopolized holders by Another reasonmore anecdotal … and juicy. After winning the bid the Ovetense hotelier rose to collect the piece proud and when he lifted his arms to show the tray the cheese drained and finished falling to the ground. An anecdote that the businessman was taken with humor. The cheese, he explained, will divide it into three parts: For his father, for him and his family and for his clients. In cave already 1,500 meters. Record prices and anecdotes apart, the main protagonist of the contest was the cheese that elaborated the winning piece: Ángel Díaz Herrero, by Tielve. Its representative, Encarna Bada, remembers that the cheese is made with cow’s milk and mature for several months at 1,500 meters of altitude in the Los Mazos cave. “It is the coldest cave, it has little cheese and matures more slowly. It is the caves that give the flavor to the cabrales, because factors such as moisture, temperature and height influence it,” Explain. The task is not simple. Bada acknowledges that going up and down with cheese pieces is arduous work because to the area “They don’t even get cars” To transport them in fact they have to resort to horses. What there is no doubt is that your technique and know how to do work: last year The same cheese managed to win the coveted first position of the contest and, incidentally, settle his name in the Guinness. Images | Wikipedia and Javier Lastras (Flickr) In Xataka | Russia is becoming a teacher in the elaboration of European cheeses. And it is due to the sanctions of the West

800 head of cattle in Asturias

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In Asturias, the mugids, balids and whispers have become an unexpected ally of electricity. Under the towers and cables that transport the energy that illuminates homes and companies, now pasts the cattle. The recipe to keep the electricity lines clean no longer depends only on chainsaws or unbrids: nature occupies its place again. Living Specifies. REDEIA – The Matrix Electricity Company, responsible for the transport and operation of the electrical system in Spain – has launched in Cabrales (Asturias) the program “Network grazing”. This initiative introduces the cattle in the safety halls of the electric lines. As reported by the company itselfthere are eight livestock farms of Cabrales that have joined the agreement, contributing a total of 512 cows, 180 goats, 80 sheep and 23 horses. These animals will graze over 67.5 hectares of land located under the lines of Ortiguero, Asiego and Carreña, thus becoming biological hosts to maintain vegetation at bay. One more complement. The project is added to the usual mechanical means. “The streets that run under the electricity lines must be clean and accessible, both to avoid fires and to prevent vegetation from reaching the laying of the electrical cables and ensuring that, if necessary, maintenance equipment can arrive soon and solve any contingency,” said Laura Quintana, director of sustainable development of Redeia, In statements collected by La Voz de Galicia. The grazing plan is designed and supervised by the Agrovidar company, which will also be in charge of evaluating the environmental results. An effect with benefits. The previous experience in the Rioja and León has already shown results: it avoids the degradation of the ecosystem, increases soil fertility and favors the increase of more biodiversity, with the greatest presence of arthropods, butterflies, pollinators and floral units. In practice, these halls under the lines become ecological corridors that reduce habitat fragmentation. In addition, the impact is not just environmental. The initiative reinforces the rural economy, provides income to local farmers, helps set population in mountain areas and preserves traditional knowledge: that of extensive livestock. An increasingly practiced initiative. What happens in Cabrales is not an isolated case. The use of livestock as a maintenance tool makes its way in the world of energy. On the one hand, in Australia, A study in Wellington Solar Park (174 MW) He showed that the sheep that grass between the solar panels not only reduced maintenance costs, but also improved the quality of wool thanks to the diversity of fodder and the shadow. On the other, in the United States, the so -called “Solar grazing” has transformed the lives of shepherds such as Jr Howard in Texas. Under Milam County panels – one of the world’s largest solar parks, with 1,600 hectares and 900 MW of power – 3,000 sheep do the work of natural debrote. Howard’s business went from being small to have 8,000 animals and 27 employees. The shared soil. In Cabrales, the energy of the future walks on the footprints of an ancient knowledge. Between mugids and balids, Asturias demonstrates that coexistence between technology and nature is not only possible, but necessary. Where there were unbrokenness before, now it is cows, goats, sheep and horses who keep alive the balance between electricity, environment and rural life. Image | Freepik Xataka | Texas installed millions of solar panels in rural terrain. To keep it they have had to hire 3,000 sheep

Asturias prepares the greatest experiment in Spain to reduce the day

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When the national debate seemed focused on (still stagnant) Reduction of the working day At 37.5 hours a week, Asturias has decided to step on the accelerator. The Principality government has launched the machinery to launch an experiment on the four -day work week in the region, a movement that resurrects one of the Conversations about the future of work in our country. The first step have already taken it. From the regional government They have already tendered The study that will serve as a road map in this ‘experiment’. The objective they have is clear: analyze the viability and The economic impact to implement a 32 week weekly day in the business fabric of the region. A necessary study to be a success. This study, which will have a value of 16,862 eurosan external consultant will be held. In its content, what is going to be collected will be the similar projects that have been made in other regions, with their failures and their mistakes. In this way, we will not try not to fall into the same stone again as other autonomous communities or other regions of the European Union. In addition, it will also identify the key sectors of the Asturian economy where it would be more feasible to apply this reduction in working hours, and especially where there will really be a benefit of having a four -day day. From there, the assessment of unions, employer and company will be collected to have a complete vision of the consequences that this measure can have. When it will be launched. Once the report has been launched in tender, the manager who manages to get him will have a period of three months to be able to collect all this information, so we can easily leave the next year. When you have all this information, it will be when the Government will propose to companies the possibility of joining this initiative. The main focus will be in the private company. Sources from the Ministry of Science, Industry and Employment They have detailed To El País that the objective will be the private company in this experiment. Although they will also analyze the viability in the public company. But what is clear is that participation will be voluntary, as detailed in the agreement signed between the regional government with the employer and the unions. In these same statementsthe Ministry suggests that this model make Asturias one of the first communities to apply this labor model, aspiring to be one of the greatest experiments in Spain in this area. All this because so far the projects that have come forward have focused on very specific areas of a province or have been a failure, as in the case of the Plan of the Ministry of Industry. The great debate: how will affect salary. Logic can mark that a reduction in the number of hours worked It also carries a reduction in monthly salary. But this is something that at the moment is not clarified in the position by the Principality. As they point out, there is a “varied casuistry” and that, in the absence of a national regulation, it is an “issue to negotiate in each labor relationship.” Precisely, the study that has been in charge will be focused on shedding light on how this problem with companies should be solved. There are a history in Spain. To see similar projects we can go to Valencia in the spring of 2023, where the City Council of the capital tested the four -day week turning on Mondays. The results In this case they were very positive, since an improvement in the well -being of employees was evidenced. Although he also had a negative impact on some businesses by losing this habitual clientele of Mondays. Nationally, the Ministry of Industry launched in 2022 With a budget of 10 million euros in grants A plan to reduce working hours. But it was a disaster, since Only 41 industrial SMEs requested participatingand finally, almost two years later, only five companies were approved, reducing the investment to 500,000 euros. In Spain the regulation will still take to arrive. Although the Council of Ministers I already gave green light To the legislative text that would come true to have a 37.5 hours day in Spain, you still have to wait. His passage through Congress is being torpedored, since for the moment does not have enough support To be published in the BOE. Although the reality is that although it seems A substantial changethere are many companies that collect it in their collective agreements and Other EU countries They have a day below what is raised. Images | Annie Spratt Miguel Ángel Sanz In Xataka | Face B of the four -day week: the problems that British essay companies found

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