Spain has launched a public consultation to move forward with releasing up to 11 GW of access capacity for new renewable and storage projects at grid nodes linked to the closure of thermal and nuclear power plants.
The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), through the Institute for Just Transition (ITJ), is now seeking to define the procedure that will allow the allocation of this capacity, which until now has remained reserved.
The consultation does not yet imply the effective allocation of the 11 GW, but is one of the regulatory steps necessary to establish the rules, requirements and mechanisms with which the projects will be able to access it.
The decision follows an Expression of Interest conducted between April and June, through which the ITJ sought to gauge the volume of renewable and storage initiatives interested in connecting to just transition grid nodes in A Coruña, Almería, Asturias, Burgos, Cádiz, León, Palencia, and Puertollano. In total, the available capacity analyzed reaches up to 11 GW.
After reviewing these statements and the technical and environmental conditions of each point, the Ministry proposes to use different mechanisms depending on the level of competition detected.
For most of the nodes, the intention is to move forward with a simple competition procedure , where the available capacity is granted in order of receipt of applications.
This scheme would reach Carrio 220 kV, Compostilla 220/400 kV, Garoña 220 kV, Robla 400 kV, Lada 400 kV, Litoral 400 kV, Montearenas 220/400 kV, Pinar del Rey 220/400 kV, Puentes García Rodríguez 400 kV, Puertollano 220 kV and Soto de Ribera 220/400 kV .
The approach seeks to accelerate project resolution and prioritize those initiatives with the highest degree of maturity, a formula that the ITJ has already been applying in other just transition hubs. In the case of Mudéjar 400 kV, for example, the Ministry designed a chronologically ordered mechanism to allocate released capacity, also conditioned on socioeconomic commitments.
Capacity will not be granted solely on the basis of electrical criteria.
Beneficiaries must assume socio-economic commitments linked to the territory where they develop their facilities and also comply with the corresponding environmental procedures.
This criterion responds to the objective of the just transition nodes: to reuse network capacity released after the closure of conventional generation to attract new investments, employment and economic activity to the areas affected by the energy transition.
Guardo and Velilla will compete for pumping services
The treatment will be different in Guardo 220 kV and Velilla 400 kV .
The Expression of Interest detected a significant concentration of projects there, mainly associated with reversible pumped-storage hydroelectric power plants .
Given this level of competition, the ITJ proposes using a competitive bidding process to select initiatives, instead of simply allocating capacity on a first-come, first-served basis.
The competition would consider socioeconomic and environmental factors, following the logic used in other processes linked to just transition zones.
Therefore, MITECO opened a second public consultation specifically aimed at preparing the regulatory framework for that competition.
Both processes will be open for comments between September 24 and October 8, 2026 , before the Ministry moves forward with drafting the orders that will define the final rules.
The initiative is part of a broader process to reactivate access capacity that remained blocked at nodes affected by conventional generation closures.
The regulations had temporarily limited the acceptance of new applications at these points until the Ministry defined specific mechanisms to preserve the objectives of a just transition. This year's Expression of Interest was precisely used to identify viable projects and determine the most appropriate award model for each junction.