Spain Announces 520 MW Renewables Auction

• Spain's 3^rd renewable energy auction under REER regime has been announced by MITECO
• It will award 520 MW capacity in total with 140 MW reserved for distributed PV and the lion's share for thermoelectric projects
• Solar projects will need to have less than 5 MW capacity and should be located within 60 kms of the site
• Auction will be held on October 25, 2022 so as to give interested bidders time to prepare proposals

The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has formally announced its 3^rd renewable energy auction under the Renewable Energy Economic Regime (REER) offering 520 MW capacity, out of which 140 MW has been allotted to distributed PV.

Interestingly, the main share has been reserved for thermoelectric solar with 220 MW, while another 140 MW is earmarked for biomass and 20 MW for other technologies.

Distributed PV installations need to be less than 5 MW in capacity, and will get 2 year timelines to be built within 60 kms radius of the site. These can win support under REER for 12 years.

On the other hand, thermoelectric solar and biomass projects can take 4.5 years to complete, and remaining technologies 4 years, with REER support for 20 years.

"The specific support for small, distributed generation systems responds to the fact that they provide greater efficiency, because they require less network infrastructure and reduce energy losses in them. The need to democratize the electricity system has also been considered, seeking the participation of citizens, as well as other agents, such as SMEs and local entities, in the deployment of renewable technologies," stated MITECO.

Solar thermal plants need to be paired with storage and can also be hybridized with biomass, biogas, bioliquids and photovoltaic projects. If these are hybridized with PV, then the share of PV need not exceed 10% of the thermoelectric power.

The ministry said October 25, 2022 is when the competitive bidding will take place, providing interested bidders to prepare their offers. Details are available on the ministry's website.

Earlier, MITECO had been planning to launch the tender in April 2022 (see Spain To Launch 3^rd RE Auction In April 2022).

In the previous 2 auctions, held as part of the country's plans to install 60 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030 under its Integrated Climate Energy Plan (PNIEC) 2021-2030, MITECO has awarded 2.902 GW solar PV capacity and 3.256 GW of wind energy.