News in Brief from Spain

published on 20th August 2021

Photovoltaic Expansion

The installed capacity of PV power plants in Spain rose by 1,221 MW to reach 13 GW within the first six months of 2021. With this figure, however, the installed PV capacity still lags far behind 27 GW of wind power and 17 GW of hydropower.

Record prices in the Spanish electricity market

Summer 2021 saw extremely high prices in the Spanish electricity market. The average price published every seven days stood at 92.61 €/MWh in the week from 23 July and was significantly higher than the average price of 33 €/MWh announced for July 2020. The reasons are, first, the increased consumption due to higher temperatures, and second and above all, the increase in the gas price: energy production from gas is still the backbone of electricity generation in Spain and the gas prices in July 2021 were higher than in the last eight years. Finally, at 57 €/MWh, the price for the CO2 emission permits was at its historical high as well, which in turn – due to the marginal cost pricing system – directly affects the electricity prices.

Grid connection points ready for applications again

As announced, it has been again possible since 1 July 2021 to apply for grid access and grid connection points. After the December 2020 law reform, only a single application is sufficient for this purpose. Grid operators have activated their web portals on time to enable submitting applications, and have published unallocated capacities.

Every interested land plot owner can and should obtain information on the web about free capacities. If his land plot is situated next to a transformer station with free PV capacities, this is like winning a lottery, as exorbitant prices are paid for land plots at such optimal locations.