Traditionally, the biggest concerns in the renewable energy sector have been how to boost electricity production from wind and photovoltaic energyhow to make parks proliferate, facilitate their construction and their integration into the electricity network. Even without losing sight of these objectives, a new concern is increasingly emerging, which has more to do with what to do with this electricity, that in many hours of many days is much higher than demand, falls at negative prices and this leads to a loss of cheaper electricity and competitiveness factor. The need to deploy installation of batteries in wind and photovoltaic farms and pumping in hydroelectric power stations this Wednesday was one of the big topics of the first day of IX National Congress of Renewable Energyin which the Ministry of Ecological Transition announced that in 2026 there will still be funds develop storage, like the more than 1,500 that it has distributed so far to an “appetite” of large investors.
“We must support the development of renewable energies with grid flexibility and more storage, pumping and batteries” declared the president of APPA Renovables during the inauguration, Santiago Gonzalezfor whom the geopolitical context and protectionism in countries like the United States as well as the blackout of April 28 propose “a new world order”, “a change of era”, in which, in terms of energy, we must continue to rely on renewable electricity, in whichE-storage is increasingly becoming the solution for making money renewable projects registered between January and August this year 500 hours at negative prices and 190 others at zero price, according to data from the Ministry of Ecological Transition. In addition to wastethe waste of green electricity because it is not consumed and this blurs a panorama in which Spain continues to benefit from competitive advantage which gives it the power to produce more green and cheap electricity than other countries.
“THE renewable energies must become a competitive advantage for industrialization”, said González, who called for regulation and clear economic signals to expand storage which, in the absence of adequate electrification of the economy to stimulate demand, will allow the renewable sector to continue to boost the competitiveness of the economy thanks to cheap energy prices. “Anyone looking for cheap renewable energy and stable will remain for decades and the opportunities we miss will go to other countries,” he warned.
Leader in generation… and in integration?
The sector considers that Spain has been the “undisputed leader” in renewable production but that now must “demonstrate” that it is also in integration of this electricity in the network and in electricity demand, particularly industrial demand. As he said Luis Castro by Osborne Clarkeen, a later table dedicated specifically to storage, this involves shifting the “emphasis” from electricity generation to ““What do we do with this energy and what do we do to monetize it.”
The response provided by the sector is in storage, which has developed in recent years but with a a “fairly uneven” developmentaccording to APPA. Currently there are over 800 megawatts of batteries installed in isolation and less than 400 MW of batteries connected to the grid, while we “continue” with the 3,300 MW that there was in the pumped past.
The Ministry of Ecological Transition also sees “a need for storage to integrate renewable energies, reduce emissions and prices” but also to ensure the supply of electricity, after the outage of April 28, he noted. Fatima García SeñánDeputy General Manager of Storage and Flexibility of the Third Vice President’s Department, Sarah Aagesenwhich this year and as measures following the power outage, has put in place different regulations also aimed at ensure security, speed of administrative procedures and guarantees that they will be able to participate in the sale of electricity from storage facilities, which sector experts point out there are still uncertainties about its profitability. “We see that the yields are adjusted and depend on factors such as interconnection costs, project size or negotiation with manufacturers,” he underlined. Luis Miguel Alvarezfrom Emea & Latam, Matrix Renewables.
Revitalized market and additional aid for 2026
The good news came from the hand of Institute for Diversification and Energy Savings (IDAE), an organization dependent on the Ministry of Ecological Transition and author in recent years of various programs aimed at distribute more than 13 billion in European aid between the energy sector. Also promote storage, from 2021 with 744 million regional funds of the EU and over the last year with 840 million from the Recovery Funda position which was initially to be 700 million but which was increased with the authorized margin of an additional 20% due to the avalanche of requests for aid, which totaled 6 billion and which showed an “obvious appetite” to develop it, in the words of its director of Renewable Energy and the Electricity Market, Carmen Lopez Ocónwho celebrated that it was thus possible to open a market, which will at some point have to start functioning on its own without aid but for which for the moment there will still be public funds in 2026.
“They stay, they stay”, answered the question of whether there was still money left for storage, after the IDAE dug deep into its pockets to complete this latest appeal, which will be resolved throughout this month but which López Ocón announced would be used to finance 81 hybrid storage projects in wind or photovoltaic farms already in operation, 42 “autonomous” batteries, 17 thermal storage and three hydraulic pumps.
In 2026 IDAE plans to open seven calls with new help, in some cases only for storage in existing parks which will have the “largest financial allocation” and in others for other types of projects in which storage will be voluntary, such as the 350 million which will be available to repower renewable parks, which may or may not add batteries.
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