From pv magazine Spain
The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has published main bases of its support program aimed at achieving various objectives:
- Aid for the creation of large valleys or clusters of renewable hydrogen, endowed with €1.2 billion from Next Generation EU funds.
- Support for the industrial value chain of renewable energy sources and storage; endowed with €750 million.
- €250 million for innovative renewable energy, storage and heat pump projects.
- €120 million to create more energy communities.
Green hydrogen valleys
The the aid program for the creation of large valleys or renewable hydrogen clusters is endowed with €1.2 billion from the NextGenEU funds. The objective of this new line of aid is to create renewable hydrogen valleys, large industrial centers or zones of generation and consumption.
The projects must meet the following requirements:
- Prior commitment to purchase 60% of the production by consumers.
- Guarantee that the hydrogen produced is of renewable origin.
- Availability of high-capacity electrolysers, with more than 100 MW.
- Possibility of forming groups of projects with electrolysers of at least 50 MW.
- In addition, a maximum amount of aid is set for a single company or project of one third of the available budget, i.e. €400 million.
Renewable energy industrial value chain + storage
In addition, the regulatory bases of the line of aid for the renewable energy and storage industrial value chain have been published in the Official State Gazette (BOE). This program seeks to increase the strategic manufacturing capacity in Spain of solar panels, wind turbines, heat pumps, batteries, electrolysers and their essential components, and will subsidize projects focused on promoting the innovative and knowledge value chain.
The scheme is endowed with €750 million from the Addendum to the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR). The aid will be awarded on a competitive basis and will be implemented as a subsidy to be received by the beneficiary, on a definitive basis, once the eligible expenses incurred are accredited and the execution of the project is verified.
Miteco states that “the call for this line of aid will be opened soon.”
The essential equipment and components that are the object of the subsidy fall within the following lines of action:
- Electrical storage: Manufacturing and assembly of batteries, battery cells and battery packs. Batteries whose main purpose is to be used for electric mobility are not included.
- Photovoltaic solar energy: Manufacturing and assembly of solar panels.
- Wind energy: Manufacturing and assembly of wind turbines.
- Heat pumps: Manufacturing and assembly of heat pumps.
- Renewable hydrogen: Manufacturing and assembly of electrolysers.
Aid will be available for the creation of industrial establishments for a new manufacturing activity of this equipment and its essential components anywhere in the national territory, as well as the expansion of the installed production capacity in existing centers, through the implementation of new production lines as well as the conversion of existing lines to obtain equipment or elements that were not previously in production at the plant.
In the case of investments made by small companies, the aid intensities may be increased by 20% and in the case of investments made by medium-sized companies by 10%.
Innovative projects: renewables, storage and heat pumps
The BOE published the order establishing the regulatory bases for the calls for aid to innovative renewable energy and storage projects, as well as to the implementation of renewable thermal systems. This line of aid will initially be endowed with €250 million from the PRTR for the execution of the Next Generation EU funds.
The Institute for Energy Diversification and Savings (IDAE), part of MITECO, will be responsible for managing these grants, which will be awarded on a competitive basis and will be implemented as a subsidy to be received by the beneficiary, on a definitive basis, once the execution of the project is verified. The call for this line of aid will be opened soon and will be announced on the IDAE website and social networks.
It will subsidize projects focused on promoting innovation in renewable energy sources in the following lines of action:
Incentive Program 1: Innovative projects for agrovoltaic installations with storage.
- Subprogram 1.1: Agrovoltaics interspersed with crops
- Subprogram 1.2: Agrovoltaics with a structure over the crop 2 m ≤ h ≤ 4 m
- Subprogram 1.3: Agrovoltaics with structure on the crop h > 4 m
Incentive Program 2: Innovative projects for floating photovoltaic installations in artificial spaces with storage.
Incentive Program 3: Innovative projects for the integration of renewables with storage in infrastructures.
Incentive Program 4: Innovative projects for collective self-consumption with storage with the participation of vulnerable consumers.
Incentive Program 5: Innovative projects for renewable heat pump installations.
Among the projects considered in this order as innovative are agrovoltaics, floating photovoltaic installations, and photovoltaic, wind and hydroelectric installations in infrastructures, such as in highly anthropized spaces, including closed landfills or former mining sites. In these programs, the installations in accordance with current regulations may be used for both self-consumption and sale to the grid.
Likewise, collective self-consumption with the participation of vulnerable consumers is considered innovative projects for the purposes of this order.
Finally, the implementation of renewable heat pump installations is also considered innovative projects.
In the assessment of the projects, economic criteria will be taken into account, as well as the degree of maturity of the proposal and positive externalities of the projects.
Energy communities
Finally, the BOE published the regulatory bases for the launch of an additional €120 million for the creation of unique energy community projects. Charged to the PRTR, these new lines of incentives are part of the CE Implementa Program, which is centrally managed by the IDAE. The call for this line of aid will be opened soon and will be announced on the IDAE website and social networks.
The new CE Implementa 5 and 6 lines seek to promote multi-component projects that can combine various actions. Specifically, the aim is for energy communities to go beyond self-consumption. The level of aid is increased for applications such as renewable air conditioning, sustainable mobility, shared bicycles, and storage systems with the aim of improving the integration of renewables.
The following assessment criteria will be taken into account for the awarding of these grants:
- Multi-component projects: projects that are comprehensive, with more points for the combination of various actions.
- Administrative viability: projects that show a higher degree of maturity.
- Economic efficiency: higher points for those projects that request a lower percentage of aid.
- Positive externalities: energy communities that take into account vulnerable consumers, the gender perspective, that they are developed in municipalities with demographic challenges or fair transition, their impact on the national and European value chain, as well as being integrated into the local reality with the support of local public entities.
Legal entities, public or private, legally and validly constituted, that have their tax domicile in Spain, and that form a Renewable Energy Community or a Citizen Energy Community, may benefit from this line of aid. Public entities must establish energy communities as a separate entity in order to participate.
Actions carried out in at least one of the following areas of action will be eligible, and several of them may be carried out:
- Renewable electrical energy and storage (for example, collective self-consumption of photovoltaic solar energy, small mini-hydraulic or mini-wind installations or small collective solar farms). Up to 60% of eligible costs.
- Thermal renewable energy (for air conditioning, such as a small local district network). Up to 80% of eligible costs.
- Energy efficiency. Up to 30% of eligible costs.
- Sustainable mobility (through the installation of charging points or car-sharing or bike-sharing systems). Up to 60% of eligible costs.
- Demand management. Up to 40% of eligible costs.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.