The Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transformation and Population Challenges has officially announced the allocation of funds for the second round of renewable energy innovation plans, providing a total of 433.44 million euros in public funding support to 524 innovative new energy projects nationwide. All of these projects require the construction of energy storage systems, with an additional clean energy generation capacity of 1225.66 megawatts and an additional energy storage capacity of 2320.72 megawatt hours. Compared with the previous first round of projects, the scale of energy storage has increased by about eight times, clearly reflecting that energy storage has been upgraded from an auxiliary configuration to a core infrastructure in Spain's energy transition policy.

524 projects are all equipped with storage

The 524 projects approved in this round all require the construction of energy storage systems. Through the integrated deployment of new energy generation and energy storage facilities, the controllability and local consumption capacity of renewable energy can be improved, and the fluctuations caused by intermittent power sources such as photovoltaics on the operation of the power grid can be alleviated. The project mainly covers five application scenarios: agricultural photovoltaic complementarity and energy storage, floating photovoltaics for agricultural irrigation reservoirs, integrated new energy projects for public infrastructure, community self use projects, and renewable energy heat pump heating systems. After being fully completed and put into operation, it will add 1225.66 megawatts of clean energy generation capacity to Spain, mainly consisting of distributed and centralized photovoltaic projects, while adding 2320.72 megawatt hours of energy storage capacity.

The agricultural solar energy storage project has received over half of the funding

Among all supported directions, the agricultural photovoltaic complementary project with energy storage configuration has become the focus of this round of funding investment. Spain has invested approximately 234 million euros in 118 integrated agricultural, solar, and energy storage projects, accounting for over 54% of the total funding, making it the most supported category for new energy applications. More than half of the agricultural photovoltaic complementary funds are used for grain, olive, and fruit planting farms, promoting the coordinated development of traditional agricultural production and clean energy development. The project adopts a high support photovoltaic structure, with components installed at a distance of more than 4 meters from the ground, to reserve sufficient working space for large agricultural machinery, achieve on-board power generation and off board planting mode, and improve the comprehensive utilization efficiency of unit land. Keywords: New Energy News Network, Photovoltaic, Energy Storage

Comprehensive promotion of multi scene integration

The remaining funds will be invested in sub sectors such as floating photovoltaics, public infrastructure, community energy, and clean heating. 37.1 million euros support 29 floating photovoltaic power stations, all located in agricultural irrigation reservoirs, utilizing idle water surfaces to reduce farmland occupation. 47 million euros support 47 public infrastructure new energy integration projects deployed in transportation hubs and municipal buildings. 45.7 million euros support 274 distributed community self use projects, expected to benefit over 9000 energy vulnerable users. 51 million euros to support 56 geothermal and environmental heat source heat pump projects, promoting the transition of urban and rural building heating to electrification and low-carbon. The project must comply with the EU principle of not causing significant harm and conduct a full lifecycle assessment of ecology, water resources, and soil resources. As energy storage is upgraded from auxiliary configuration to core infrastructure, Spain's new energy opportunities are shifting from traditional photovoltaic development to integrated projects with energy storage, comprehensive energy applications, and clear consumption scenarios.Editor/Gao Xue