Self-consumption in schools, wind and solar in the Islands: this is how renewables are promoted in Spain

Wind and photovoltaic parks in the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands to reduce the addiction of their electrical systems to coal and fuel oil; photovoltaic self-consumption plants in public buildings throughout Spain, solar thermal and green hydrogen in Seville, floating solar panels in Madrid or biogas plants. These are some practical examples of how European cohesion funds are influencing the development of renewable energies in Spain.

The update of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) sent by the Government to the European Commission in September promises that 81% of the electricity consumed by Spain in 2030 will be renewable. The goal is to ensure that clean sources account for 48% of the total energy consumed, reduce emissions by 32% compared to 1990 levels and cut energy dependence by up to 50%.

To achieve these ambitious objectives, an important lever is the multimillion-dollar funds from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) that was approved after the pandemic. But the so-called cohesion funds for the convergence and sustainable development of less developed European regions are also contributing to this.

These instruments were created more than 30 years ago, with the Maastrich Treaty, and only until 2023 have they allocated 179 billion euros to this task. Spain was one of the four countries that began to benefit from them in the period 1994-99, along with Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

The programs are multi-year in nature. In the previous period, 2014-2020, Spain received, according to the official portal that the European Commission has to disseminate this aid, 1,206 million in renovation actions for energy efficiency in public infrastructures or 661 million for solar energy.

The current one (2021-2027) contemplates the distribution of 37.3 billion in aid from the Cohesion Policy to accelerate the green transition in Spain to a more efficient, competitive and emissions-neutral economy. The Association Agreement was closed in the midst of the energy crisis after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, two years ago, in November 2022, with a total investment of more than 59.7 billion.

Of this multi-annual plan in force, 3,336.5 million will be aid for renewable energies from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); and another 1,838.9 million for energy efficiency actions.

These funds belong to the PO2 Greener Europe program, of which Spain has allocated 9.4 billion, and whose distribution is then decided by the State and the autonomous communities. The European Commission gives the general guidelines for its delivery.

Brussels has a portal, Kohesio, with information on subsidized projects and basic data on hundreds of initiatives. Many are related to energy efficiency, improvement and modernization of mobility (expansion of metro lines, construction of bike lanes or transport interchanges, renewal of bus fleets, installation of electric charging points…), but also with renewables and efficiency .

These data must be taken with great caution, because this website is not updated and includes the aid initially granted, which is then usually reduced depending on the companies’ business plans and other conditions. But it gives an idea of ​​the effort and breadth of these programs.

In the case of Spain, on that website there are several initiatives in which EU aid is 10 million euros or more. Subsidy percentages range between 57% and 80% in the case of companies and can be 100% for public administrations.

Of note is the nearly 130 million that this portal allocates for the photovoltaic bioclimatization of hundreds of educational centers in schools and institutes in Andalusia to reduce energy consumption from renewable sources, incorporating cooling systems with very low electrical consumption.

In the province of Córdoba alone, this program has benefited more than a hundred educational centers in 39 municipalities, with an investment of nearly 27.5 million and the installation of photovoltaic plants with a power of 15 kilowatts, according to advertisement the Junta de Andalucía last summer: 33 of these centers are located in Córdoba capital, eight in Lucena, five in Puente Genil and three in Aguilar de la Frontera, Cabra, Montoro and Rute, respectively. These are the areas with the greatest climatic severity in summer in that province.

On the state side, an important part of these funds are managed by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition through the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE).

At the end of 2021, this entity selected a total of 544 innovative renewable energy projects for electricity generation, in a call with a subsidy of 177 million and a total investment of 560 million. Among the most notable projects is the largest solar thermal plant for industrial use in Europe, with 30.38 megawatts (MW), which the French company Engie built for the Heineken brewery in Seville.

The facility, with a storage capacity of 68 MWh and a surface area of ​​7 hectares, was designed to reduce the fossil gas consumption of this factory by more than 60%. The plant, inaugurated in October 2023 by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, was launched in a record time of 12 months, involving 100% Andalusian companies in its assembly. The total investment was 20,476,668.52 euros, of which Engie received 13,369,356 euros in Feder aid from the European Union managed by the IDAE.

In that call, which also selected, for example, a biogas production plant from the Covap agri-food cooperative in Córdoba subsidized with 4.5 million, self-consumption in public buildings and local administrations represented more than 22% of the chosen actions. Among them were developments to supply the health services of Castilla-La Mancha and Galicia, as well as public schools in Murcia or the University of Vigo.

Photovoltaic projects on livestock and agricultural farms in Castilla y León were also selected, with 62 initiatives, to serve irrigated crops in Valladolid or pig, cattle and poultry farms in the rest of the community.

In wind energy, 13 projects were chosen to supply the consumption of companies or public centers, such as universities or educational centers in the Region of Murcia or Galicia; for the recharging of electric vehicles in a group of technology companies in Zaragoza; an 18.8 MW wind installation to produce green hydrogen with 5 MW of electrolysis promoted by Capital Energy in Lebrija (Seville); and another plant in Valdetorres (Badajoz) to produce this molecule and transform an old biodiesel plant into one for the production of synthetic fuels.

316 million

The IDAE, which also receives cohesion funds to communicate the existence of these European subsidies, explains on its website that it has allocated a total of 316 million in lines of aid for investment in renewable, thermal and electrical energy with Feder funds. The Canary Islands have been a priority destination for this aid, due to the strong weight that fossil-based electricity generation still has there.

In this archipelago, several Naturgy projects stand out, which was awarded nearly 6 million in Feder aid for four facilities: the Agüimes (10.75 MW) and Camino de la Madera (9.2 MW) wind farms, in Gran Canaria, and the Las Salinetas photovoltaic plants (4.2 MW), in Telde (Gran Canaria) and Puerto del Rosario, in Fuerteventura (11.5 MW). The latter was inaugurated on March 7 and is attached to the group’s largest wind farm in the archipelago (29.2 MW).

Iberdrola (50% with local businessmen), the local oil company Disa, Canarian groups such as Lopesan or Ecosos and the Galician Ecoener, among others, have also launched renewable projects in the Canary Islands with this aid.

In the Balearic Islands, the five photovoltaic parks launched in recent years by Endesa, a subsidiary of Enel, co-financed with Feder funds, stand out, with a total power of 56.6 MWp, after a total investment of 47 million. These are the projects sa Caseta (21.83 MW), Son Reus (12.53 MW), Biniatria (14.97 MW), Ca Na Lloreta (3.4 MW) and Son Orlandis (3.34 MW). The latter has a pioneering energy storage system, Vanadium Redox Flow Battery.

In Madrid, Spain’s richest region, regional development funds have also helped finance several Canal de Isabel II projects. The largest public company in Madrid, which is gradually building a considerable pool of self-consumption facilities, plans to invest 18.3 million in a green hydrogen plant at the Arroyo Culebro Cuenca Alta wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Pinto ( Madrid). The facility will receive 7.3 million in funds from the Feder 2021-2027 Program of the Community of Madrid.

The Canal foresees an investment of 12 million in renewable energies in that period, with 4.8 million in subsidies; and 11.67 million for its Solar Plan, with 4.66 million from Feder funds.

An example of projects that have already been carried out with these EU funds is the Valmayor reservoir mini-power plant, with an investment of 6.5 million, half of which was financed with Feder funds in the past decade.

Or, more recently, a 1.7 MW floating photovoltaic installation in Torrelaguna, as part of its Solar Plan. The plant, launched just over a year ago, has received 100% financing of 2,289,491 euros from Feder funds within the framework of the React-EU program, as the EU’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.