Spain prepares to allocate up to 11 GW for renewable energy and storage

Spain plans to allocate up to 11 GW of grid access capacity for renewable energy and energy storage projects at transition hubs, including dedicated competitive tenders for two sites in Palencia.

The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO), through the Institute for Just Transition (ITJ), has opened two public consultations running until Oct. 8 on procedures to allocate capacity reserved at just-transition grid nodes.

The first procedure covers 15 grid nodes in transition areas across A Coruña, Almería, Asturias, Burgos, Cádiz, León, Palencia and Puertollano. The ITJ proposes allocating available capacity through a simple competitive process based on the order in which applications are received.

Projects will have to meet technical requirements, undergo applicable environmental assessments and commit to socioeconomic measures benefiting the relevant transition area.

The second procedure covers the Guardo 220 kV and Velilla 400 kV nodes in the Guardo-Velilla transition area in Palencia. The ITJ proposes a competitive tender because a market consultation identified significant interest in the two nodes, particularly from reversible hydropower projects.

The future tender will be established through a regulatory order and will assess projects against socioeconomic and environmental criteria, alongside applicable technical requirements for grid connection.

MITECO said the initial market consultation, held from April to June, was used to assess demand for the reserved capacity from renewable generation and storage projects.

The Guardo-Velilla process could provide access to grid capacity for long-duration storage projects, with reversible hydropower able to shift electricity generation between periods of lower and higher demand.

From pv magazine España