Wind and photovoltaic farms in the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands to reduce the dependence of their electricity systems on coal and fuel oil; photovoltaic self-consumption installations in public buildings throughout Spain, thermal solar and green hydrogen in Seville, floating solar panels in Madrid or biogas installations. These are some practical examples of how European cohesion funds influence the development of renewable energy 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 aim is to ensure that clean sources account for 48% of total energy consumed, reduce emissions by 32% compared to 1990 levels and reduce energy dependence by up to 50%.
To achieve these ambitious goals, the multi-million dollar funds from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) approved after the pandemic constitute an important lever. But the so-called cohesion funds for convergence and sustainable development of the least developed European regions also contribute.
These instruments were created more than 30 years ago, with the Maastrich Treaty, and only until 2023 they have dedicated 179 billion euros to this task. Spain was one of four countries that began to benefit between 1994 and 1999, along with Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
The programs are multi-annual in nature. During the previous period, 2014-2020, Spain received, according to the official portal available to the European Commission to disseminate this aid, 1,206 million in renovation actions for the energy efficiency of public infrastructure or 661 million for solar energy.
The current one (2021-2027) envisages the distribution of 37.3 billion in cohesion policy aid to accelerate the green transition in Spain towards a more efficient, competitive and emissions-neutral economy. The association agreement was concluded 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 an additional 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 provides general guidelines for its implementation.
Brussels has a portal, Kohesio, with information on subsidized projects and basic data on hundreds of initiatives. Many are linked to energy efficiency, the improvement and modernization of mobility (extension of metro lines, construction of cycle paths or transport interchanges, renewal of bus fleets, installation of electric charging stations …), but also to renewable energies and efficiency.
This data should be taken with great caution, as this website is not updated and repeats 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 scale of these programs.
In the case of Spain, there are several initiatives on this site for which EU aid amounts to 10 million euros or more. Subsidy percentages vary between 57% and 80% in the case of businesses and can reach 100% for public administrations.
It is worth noting the almost 130 million that this portal allocates to the photovoltaic bioclimatization of hundreds of educational centers in schools and institutes in Andalusia in order to reduce energy consumption from renewable sources, integrating cooling systems with very low power consumption.
In the province of Córdoba alone, this program has benefited more than a hundred educational centers in 39 municipalities, with an investment of almost 27.5 million and the installation of photovoltaic plants with a power of 15 kilowatts, such as announced the Council of Andalusia last summer. : 33 of these centers are located in the capital Córdoba, eight in Lucena, five in Puente Genil and three in Aguilar de la Frontera, Cabra, Montoro and Rute, respectively. These are the areas where the summer climate is the most severe in this province.
On the State side, a significant part of these funds is managed by the Ministry of Ecological Transition through the Institute for Diversification and Energy Savings (IDAE).
At the end of 2021, this entity selected a total of 544 innovative renewable energy projects for electricity production, through a call with a grant of 177 million and a total investment of 560 million. Among the most notable projects is the largest solar thermal power plant for industrial use in Europe, with 30.38 megawatts (MW), which the French company Engie built for the Heineken brewery in Seville.
The installation, with a storage capacity of 68 MWh and an area of 7 hectares, was designed to reduce the fossil gas consumption of this plant by more than 60%. The factory, inaugurated in October 2023 by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, was inaugurated in a record time of 12 months, involving 100% Andalusian companies in its assembly. The total investment amounted to 20,476,668.52 euros, of which Engie received 13,369,356 euros of ERDF aid from the European Union managed by IDAE.
In this call, which also selected, for example, a biogas production plant from the Covap agri-food cooperative in Cordoba subsidized to the tune of 4.5 million, self-consumption in public buildings and local administrations represented more than 22% of the chosen actions. Among them were projects aimed at supplying the health services of Castile-La Mancha and Galicia, as well as public schools in Murcia or the University of Vigo.
Photovoltaic projects on livestock and agricultural farms in Castile and León were also selected, with 62 initiatives, to power the irrigated crops of Valladolid or the pig, cattle and poultry farms of the rest of the community.
In the field of 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 charging of electric vehicles in a group of technological 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 factory in Valdetorres (Badajoz) to produce this molecule and transform a former biodiesel factory into a synthetic fuel production factory.
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 lines of aid for investment in renewable, thermal and electrical energies with Feder funds. The Canary Islands were a priority destination for this aid, due to the significant weight that fossil-based electricity production still has there.
In this archipelago, several Naturgy projects stand out, which have obtained nearly 6 million in ERDF aid for four installations: the Agüimes (10.75 MW) and Camino de la Madera (9.2 MW) wind farms, in Gran Canaria, and the Las Salinetas photovoltaic park. power plants (4.2 MW), in Telde (Gran Canaria) and in 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 like Lopesan or Ecosos and the Galician Ecoener, among others, have also launched renewable projects in the Canary Islands with this help.
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 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) projects. . 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 park of self-consumption installations, plans to invest 18.3 million euros in a green hydrogen plant at the wastewater treatment plant (STEP) of Arroyo Culebro Cuenca Alta in Pinto (Madrid). The facility will receive 7.3 million in funds from the 2021-2027 Feder program of the Community of Madrid.
The Canal plans an investment of 12 million in renewable energies over this period, including 4.8 million in subsidies; and 11.67 million for its solar plan, including 4.66 million from Feder funds.
An example of projects already carried out with these European funds is the mini-power plant of the Valmayor reservoir, with an investment of 6.5 million euros, half of which was financed by ERDF funds over the last decade.
Or, more recently, a 1.7 MW floating photovoltaic installation in Torrelaguna, as part of its Solar Plan. The factory, launched just over a year ago, received 100% funding of 2,289,491 euros of ERDF funds under the React-EU program, in the EU’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19.
The opinions and views expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the authority which grants it can be held responsible.
