Spain passes decree strengthening grid resilience and boosting energy storage

The Spanish government has approved a royal decree aimed at strengthening the power grid’s resilience, robustness and stability in response to the nationwide blackout in April.

Some of the measures passed in this latest royal decree were picked up from the previous one in June, which was ultimately rejected by the Congress of Deputies in July. The previous royal decree was in response to the Iberian blackout that happened on 28 April 2025.

One of the measures taken from the previous royal decree is to make it easier for energy storage to be added to the grid, as Spain targets to have 22.5GW of installed energy storage by 2030.

This will give priority to the hybridisation of energy storage with other operational renewable energy plants, a measure that was welcomed by the Spanish trade association Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF).

“The new regulations will boost energy storage, leading to a more robust system and more competitive electricity prices, said José Donoso, CEO of UNEF.

The measure to boost energy storage’s deployment comes days after Spain’s environment minister Sara Aagesen (pictured above) announced that nearly €840 million (US$964 million) would be awarded to 143 energy storage projects under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). More than half the awarded projects were for the hybridisation of energy storage with other renewable energy projects, with 81 projects out of the 143.

Aside from the measure for energy storage, one of the key aspects of this new royal decree is the establishment of oversight and control measures regarding the voltage control obligations for the electricity sector.

Meanwhile, Red Eléctrica, the Spanish transmission system operator (TSO), will prepare proposals for regulatory modifications such as responses to power oscillations, which were highlighted as one of the three causes of the April Iberian blackout. Other proposals for regulatory modifications include the speed of voltage variation and scheduling of technical restrictions.

According to Spain’s environment ministry, MITECO, these proposals from the TSO will have to be ready in the next three to six months.

However, one of the measures that was not picked up in this new decree pertains to self-consumption, which the Spanish aimed to boost back in June 2025.

Some of the measures approved in this new royal decree were previously proposed in another decree earlier this year. Image: Spain’s Congress of Deputies.

This article is reposted from PV Tech. Written: Jonathan Touriño Jacobo.

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