The competitive bidding process would see MITECO provide €150 million in grants for energy storage projects that are either standalone or paired with renewable energy resources, new or existing, including pumped hydro energy storage (PHES). Another €10 million would go towards thermal energy storage projects.

As is normally the case with such tenders in Spain, there are specific budgets for the overseas regions of the Canary Islands (€15 million) and Balearic Islands (€4 million).

MITECO described the programme as one for ‘innovative’ energy storage projects but did not provide more information about the technology or performance criteria other than the above.

Grants will cover 40-65% of the project cost depending on the size of the company applying, while universities can have the whole project cost covered by the non-refundable grant.

Eligible projects will be judged on economic viability, their capability of helping to integrate renewable energy on the grid, and the creation of local employment and business opportunities as part of their development.

MITECO is looking to pick the winning proposals in the final quarter of 2023 and the projects will need to come online before 30 June 2026. Spain is targeting 20GW of new energy storage by 2030.

MITECO also launched a similarly-sized grant scheme specifically for co-located or hybridised energy storage projects, for which proposals were due in March 2023. Enel Green Power submitted two projects during the first quarter which fit the criteria, totalling 60MWh and 38MWh respectively.