Spain's new decree reduces risk, but doesn't unlock the bankability of storage: "There is a lack of income certainty."

Spain recently approved Royal Decree-Law 7/2026 , legislation that aims to expedite the development of renewable energy projects and regulate grid access, in a context of increasing pressure on electrical infrastructure and the need to accelerate the energy transition. In this scenario, the sector is beginning to analyze its real impact, especially on energy storage, where doubts persist about its effect on the economic viability of projects. Andrés Pinilla Antón , BESS Sales Director EU&LATAM at Risen Energy, noted: "It doesn't improve bankability because there isn't an additional source of income per se, but it does provide greater certainty, more predictability in access and connection, and a more favorable framework for self-consumption and electrification." Within this framework, the executive identifies three main areas where the legislation advances: streamlining permitting through Renewable Acceleration Zones (ZARs), greater transparency in grid capacity, and stricter measures against the speculative use of grid connection points. However, Pinilla Antón pointed out: "It's true that administrative risk has decreased, but market risk hasn't been eliminated. We still have to rely on a market that is being built day by day, and that implies uncertainty . At this point, the capacity market appears as the key element still missing to complete the economic equation for storage. Despite having been announced and anticipated by the sector, its implementation is still pending, which limits the generation of stable income for this type of asset. "For a project to be bankable, there has to be certainty in the income."

“Currently, the only two options are having a counterparty with a tolling agreement or a recurring payment scheme,” the executive stated. The absence of this structured market forces developers to rely on variable revenues from adjustment services or energy arbitrage , which increases risk exposure and complicates financial closing.

In this context, regulatory progress in access and processing is decoupled from the economic realities of projects. In the commercial and industrial sectors, certain regulatory limitations persist that hinder deployment.

In particular, the current surplus compensation scheme introduces rigidities by not adequately considering the role of batteries.

According to the executive, the power limit for grid injection can restrict the optimization of hybrid systems, even if the effective export capacity is not increased. This prevents, for example, oversizing renewable energy installations combined with storage while maintaining the same connection point, thus limiting the technical and economic efficiency of the projects. Pinilla Antón stated that the royal decree "doesn't move the needle" on storage business models.

However, he pointed out that the real change stems from a previous regulatory update. "With the change to operating procedure 9.2, demand can participate in balancing, secondary, tertiary, and intraday services, and that's where the battery business model changes."

"It doesn't just focus on arbitrage or peak shaving, but can participate in network services that make them truly profitable," he explained.

In many cases permitting times are shortened, but not automatically.

"You can remove the Environmental Impact Statement or do the Prior Administrative and Construction Authorization together, but it says nothing about network access or the availability of connections," warned the executive, who stressed that these advances depend largely on their implementation at the regional level.

Despite advances in permitting, capacity availability and saturation at certain nodes continue to be the main constraint for the development of new projects.

It is worth remembering that the

"This is relevant because it recognizes, in regulatory terms, that batteries are flexible and allow their connection to be assessed not as a rigid and firm demand, but as something that can be adjusted," he concluded.