• MITECO launches a call with 700 million nationwide in which energy storage projects are subsidized with stand-alone batteries, thermal or reversible pumps, as well as those hybridized with renewable generation facilities, providing greater flexibility to the electricity system and accelerating the energy transition • With this aid, it is expected that more than 100 new facilities, between 2.5 and 3.5 GW of storage power can be financed • The aid, from the Feder, is in addition to the support of the PRTR, which has allowed to install about 4.5 GW, thanks to an investment of 730 million

The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has given a decisive boost to the deployment of large-scale energy storage with the approval of a call for aid for the development of investment projects, which can be consulted. here. With an allocation of 700 million euros, the initiative will allow the implementation of new facilities that will provide greater flexibility to the electricity system and will favor the integration of renewable energies, accelerating decarbonization by ensuring the cheapest and emission-free energy supply. Of that amount, a total of 60,918,560 euros corresponds to Extremadura.

The deadline for submitting applications for this aid, the regulatory bases of which can be consulted here, which will open next week and run until July 15, 2025. The Institute for Diversification and Energy Saving (IDAE), an entity attached to MITECO, will be in charge of managing the subsidies, cofinanced with European funds of the Multiregional Program FEDER 2021-2027 under competitive competition.

This program is aimed at investments in stand-alone energy storage projects, reversible pumps or thermal systems, and hybrid storage initiatives with new or existing renewable sources. Eligible costs shall be civil works, storage systems, ancillary equipment and systems and other associated costs.

It is expected that more than 100 projects can be funded. Taking into account the aid ratios granted in previous calls, between 2.5 GW and 3.5 GW of new power could be expected, exceeding 9 GWh of storage capacity.

A maximum eligible cost per storage unit has been established:

Maximum unit cost of the project (in €/kWh)

Stand-alone: 250

Stand-alone with grid forming: 300

Thermal storage: 300

Hybrid storage: Established for every technology

New Pumping: 1,500

Pumping in existing infrastructure: 1,000

The maximum period for the execution of the actions will be 36 months from the granting of the aid, and must be completed before December 31, 2029.

The IDAE has organized an informative webinar on June 5 to explain all the details of this call and clarify the doubts that potential applicants may have, which can be accessed here.

BY AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITIES

The objective of the European ERDF 2021-2027 funds is to strengthen socio-economic cohesion within the EU, reducing the development disparities of the different regions. The way to correct these imbalances is through the

financing of structural investments in less-favoured areas, promoting sustainable development and tackling environmental challenges.

For this reason, aid for energy storage projects is budgeted by autonomous communities, with greater allocation to those considered as less developed or in transition, all depending on the funds that the ERDF Management Authority has appropriated to the IDAE. The distribution established in the call for grants is as follows:

• More developed

Aragon:1.847.224

Catalonia: 19.565.037

Madrid: 10.325.203

Navarre: 314,595

Basque Country: 394,557

• Transition

Asturias: 9.674.010

Balearic Islands: 9.359.339

Canaries: 22.587.070

Cantabria: 1,870,929

Castile and Leon: 32,249,544

C. Valencian: 38,673,513

Galicia: 86,926,454

La Rioja: 1,399,868

Murcia: 10.169.316

• Less developed

Andalusia: 311,889,417

Castile-La Mancha: 80.494.147

Ceuta: 483,355

Extremadura: 60,918,560

Melilla: 615,178

• Total: 699,757,316

Applications will be selected by the budget allocated to each regional CCAA, separating eligible projects by type of storage and sorting by score, in a first round, until the budget is exhausted. In the case of a surplus, the amount will be distributed in the second round among the other projects of the Autonomous Community, ordered by the score obtained initially. In the third round, the projects will compete for the surplus budget in each transition area.

To facilitate the implementation of projects, beneficiaries may apply to IDAE for advances of up to 100% of the amount of aid granted, provided that they meet certain conditions.

GREATER PENETRATION OF RENEWABLE ENERGIES

This boost to the development of energy storage will help ensure the transformation of the energy system to make it more flexible, robust and resilient. The reinforcement of this technology will also achieve greater penetration of renewable energy sources into the Spanish electricity system, since storage acts as an enabling and management element.

Furthermore, it is expected that the increase of this type of installation will increase the flexibility of the system allowing a greater penetration of renewable energies, reducing energy costs.

The aid will at the same time reduce Spain’s dependence on fossil fuels, by increasing renewable participation in the electricity mix, facing the climate crisis, in line with the provisions of both the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan and the REPower EU Plan.

4.5 GW MORE NEW STORES WITH PRTR

This energy storage aid is in addition to the support programs carried out by the Government developed with the NextGenEU funds of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR). Through various grants, projects worth 730 million have already been encouraged to install new storage facilities with a capacity of 4.5 GW.

In addition to facilitating the decarbonisation of the Spanish electricity system, support for these storage systems will strengthen the development of a European industrial fabric capable of supplying equipment, manufacturing or assembling components and maintaining storage projects with the various existing technologies (batteries, pumping systems and thermal storage). It will thus follow in the footsteps of the wind and photovoltaic sector, in which Spain is already self-sufficient in technological and productive capacity.