Between 2018 and 2020, renewable energy generation in Spain surged, triggering a flood of requests to connect to the electrical grid. That surge helped push the 2030 targets sevenfold higher. Many requests appeared to serve purposes beyond genuine needs, with some seeking access to the network to sell later at a profit. Speculative license stacking resurfaced in the sector, and on the other side of the grid, authorities noted extraordinarily rapid growth in access requests that drew government attention under the eighth package of anti-crisis measures.
The Executive’s concerns rest on figures cited by the government from the transmission and distribution managers, notably Red Eléctrica and major players Iberdrola, Endesa, Naturgy, and EDP, to the Ministry of Ecological Transition. Neither Red Eléctrica nor its partners readily provided these figures in response to media requests. The data indicate a sharp rise in network access requests for new consumption in recent months, though some projects behind these demands are evolving quickly while others are not.
Spain currently has about 45,087 kilometers of electrical cables carrying energy from production sites to consumers. Planning until now relied on production needs and forecasts from new renewable facilities or projected consumption supplied by companies based on consumer behavior. In recent months a new paradigm has emerged: large consumers seeking to electrify their processes are no longer limited to traditional industries that use other fuels. For some of these new demand sectors, electrification is becoming the primary driver of growth.
Three types of consumers
The government’s concern about potential speculation targets the latter group. Growth is largely driven by three consumer categories that have little impact on current consumption: hydrogen production facilities, data centers, and energy storage facilities.
Officials warn that hoarding of network access permissions, combined with permissions that do not expire, could lead to a surge in consumption for projects without clear development visibility. The management team argues for measures to prevent speculative hoarding and to ensure that access remains tied to credible development plans.
New regulation
In response, the government announced a new regulation focused on access and demand at specific network nodes. Access to the transport network will be allocated through a competitive procedure that considers project maturity, proposed investment levels, and the contribution to decarbonization, among other factors.
The regulation introduces two key measures with broad applicability. First, for projects connected to networks at or above 36 kilovolts, large consumption efforts will be required to provide nonrefundable financial guarantees if they fail to fulfill their stated plans. Second, access and connection permissions will expire if a technical agreement for at least 50% of the permitted capacity is not finalized within five years of obtaining the permit.
New timelines
For permits already issued, the transition process will establish guarantees and expiration times. Those timelines begin once the royal decree takes effect. The intention is to curb a repeat of the renewables surge seen four years earlier. The Ministry of Ecological Transition has developed a standard that sets maximum timelines from the moment an access request is made to the moment the network is activated. The baseline is five years, with the anti-crisis decree extending this to eight years in certain cases when bottlenecks appeared in administration.
In summary, the regulation aims to streamline the path from access to activation, minimizing delays and reducing speculative practices. This approach reflects a broader trend in energy policy where timely infrastructure development and credible project planning are essential to maintaining reliable service while advancing decarbonization goals. Government sources emphasize that the new rules are designed to balance rapid electrification with disciplined, transparent project management, ensuring that network capacity is directed toward genuinely viable and timely projects.