Call for applicants to Spain’s €700m large-scale energy storage program

Friday saw the publication of a call for applications for energy storage projects hoping to receive support from a €700 million ($794 million) EU-funded program in Spain.

Successful applicants will receive up to 85% of their civil works, storage systems, auxiliary equipment, and system costs for grid-connected battery, pumped hydro, and thermal energy storage projects, which must have a minimum 1 MW capacity and be operational before 2030.

The program, administered by Spain’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), is funded by the EU’s European Regional Development Fund, which aims to improve economies in the poorest regions of the bloc.

MITECO expects to back more than 100 projects with a total scale of 2.5 GW to 3.5 GW and more than 9 GWh of energy storage capacity.

The following project cost limits have been specified:

Projects will have three years to take shape from the awarding of a grant and the amount awarded will reduce by 1% in the case of up to six months’ delay, 5% for six months’ to one year’s hold-up, 10% for delays of between one and two years, and 20% for missing the deadline by between two and three years.

Advances of the grants may be disbursed by MITECO body the Institute for the Diversification and Saving of Energy (IDAE) providing certain conditions are met.

The €700 million budget will be divided by autonomous community with less economically developed areas being allocated more funds as follows:

The following co-financing rates have been established:

All applicants must provide 2% of their requested grant amount as a financial guarantee for their projects.

In terms of the criteria for considering which projects will receive funding, up to 70 points will be awarded to applications which are significantly under the maximum value for their region. Five specific economic and other external benefits, which will receive the second biggest weighting in the criteria, include up to six points for “applicants who demonstrate their economic impact on the industrial value chain.”

That will be calculated based on added value to projects courtesy of EU-made components, according to provisions specified by IDAE. In standalone batteries, and sites hybridized with renewable energy generation capacity, that means a point for European-made battery cells; 0.9 points for a local energy management or supervisory control and data acquisition system; 0.8 points for EU battery packs, batteries, and the electronics behind power control systems; 0.7 points for an EU-made integrator; and 0.5 points for European transformer and cell electronic protection systems, and locally-sourced operations and maintenance services.

Other economic benefits, which can earn up to 17 points, relate to demographic challenges in towns; contribution to a “just transition,” for economically deprived areas; gender equality; and support for the integration of renewables into the energy system.

Up to three points can be allocated according to the innovative nature of projects.

IDAE regulations indicate battery cells “will be an EU product when the cell has been manufactured in European territory, in facilities with sufficient personnel and equipment for the production, assembly, handling, and transport of said cells within the EU.”

Second-life battery cells and modules will be considered European even if made outside the European Union provided they have secured second-life use within the bloc.

The call for applications opened today and will close on July 15. IDAE will stage a webinar for potential applicants on Thursday. Further details, in Spanish, can be found here.

From pv magazine España.