Spain announces €2.3 billion support scheme for clean energy sectors
The Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has published the regulatory framework for its much-awaited subsidy scheme on clean energy manufacturing and renewable energy sectors, including electrolyzer and battery storage manufacturing, large hydrogen clusters, industrial capacities in solar and wind energy, and so on.
According to the scheme, an aid of €1.2 billion from Next Generation EU funds is to be endowed for creation of large green hydrogen valleys. To support manufacturing value chains for renewable energy generation and energy storage technology, an amount of €750 million has been allocated by the Spanish government.
Further, about €250 million is reserved for advanced and innovative RE, energy storage and heat pump projects, while an another €120 million is dedicated for the creation of 'energy communities' in the country.
As far as the requirements of the support scheme is concerned, the hydrogen valley projects must secure prior energy purchase commitment of 60 percent, electrolyzer capacity of more than 100 MW, and group projects of at least 50 MW capacity to qualify for the incentives. Aid per project is capped at either one-third of its value or €400 million.
For battery storage, the scheme identifies the value chains of the manufacturing and assembly of batteries, battery cells and battery packs as the primary beneficiaries. EV battery manufacturing has been excluded from the Spanish support scheme.
The funding is to be sourced from the country's national recovery and resilience plan (PRTR), with the Institute for Diversification and Energy Saving (IDAE) identified as the nodal agency for the programme. Auctions for the scheme are expected to commence soon.
The maximum aid that a battery storage-related project can claim will be dependent on its site location and other considerations, with a general capping of €150 million or 15 percent of the project's value.
