Spain mandates storage in €148.5M funding round for innovative renewables

On August 6, 2025, Spain’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) approved €148.5 million in Recovery and Resilience Facility grants for 199 pioneering renewables installations—all of which include battery energy storage. Together, these projects will add 299.6 MW of mostly photovoltaic generation and 351.6 MWh of storage, effectively creating a “vault” for intermittent solar output.

The highest concentration of awardees is in Catalonia (79 projects), followed by the Valencian Community (30), Castilla y León (17) and Andalusia (13), reflecting a broad geographic commitment to pairing solar farms with batteries.

Of the five RENOINN incentive lines, agrivoltaic systems equipped with storage received the largest allocation with €77.1 million for 62 projects, including 19 in the Valencian Community and 13 in Catalonia. These dual-use installations blend crop production with solar panels, while batteries capture surplus generation to support farm operations after sunset. For each agrivoltaic site, recipients must report annually over five years on PV performance and agricultural impact.

Meanwhile, 11 floating photovoltaic schemes, mostly self-consumption plants sited on agricultural irrigation ponds, secured €10.1 million in grants, pairing water-cooled PV arrays with battery packs to smooth output and maximise local usage.

Integration of renewables into transport corridors, brownfield sites and other built environments (RENOINN subprogram 3) saw 27 innovative proposals awarded €23.4 million. These grid-edge installations will install 45.6 MW of capacity alongside 133.2 MWh of storage, demonstrating how batteries can stabilise generation in unconventional settings.

Lastly, to bolster community energy, MITECO earmarked €18.2 million for 67 collective self-consumption schemes with storage, targeting around 4,000 vulnerable users. These shared battery-enabled solar arrays will offer both resilience and bill savings for local groups.

The Institute for Diversification and Saving of Energy (IDAE) will administer the entire call, overseeing technical appraisal, disbursement and five-year performance monitoring. By tying €351.6 MWh of storage to nearly 300 MW of new solar, the programme shifts Spain’s renewables agenda from “sunlight only” towards an era where batteries capture and dispatch power on demand.

Information on RENOINN Grants (“Programa de Energías Renovables Innovadoras”):

Spain’s competitively awarded incentives, financed by the EU’s NextGenerationEU Recovery and Resilience Facility, to accelerate novel renewable-plus-storage installations. Published in the BOE on 26 July 2024, the regulatory framework allocates an initial €250 million via five targeted lines, all designed to pair generation with storage (except the heat-pump subprogramme). For full details, see planderecuperacion.gob.es.

• Agrivoltaics with storage
Three sub-lines for different mounting heights (intercalated; 2–4 m; > 4 m).

• Floating PV with storage
Installations on artificial water bodies (e.g. irrigation ponds).

• Integration into infrastructure with storage
PV, wind or small hydro on roads, closed landfills, former mines, etc.

• Collective self-consumption with storage
Must include vulnerable-consumer participation.

• Renewable heat pump systems
Electrifying thermal demand (this line does not mandate batteries).

From pv magazine Spain.