Spain plans auction to grant grid access capacity to 1.3 GW of renewables

From pv magazine Spain

Spain's Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (Miteco), through the Institute for the Just Transition, has approved the bidding terms of an auction that will grant grid access capacity at the node of Mudejar, which is affected by the closure of the Andorra thermal power plant in Teruel operated by Spanish energy company Endesa, a unit of Italian power utility Enel.

The aim of granting the grid access capacity is to facilitate the deployment of renewable energy and promote the economic and social recovery of the zones of ‘just transition', affected due to plant closures, with particular attention to job creation, business development and the fight against depopulation.

The Just Transition Agreement of Andorra-Mining Regions (Teruel) is the first of its kind, Miteco said. This legal instrument will allow the concession of grid access capacity of up to 1.3 GW by the country's network operator, Red Eléctrica Española (REE).

The award criteria for the Andorran node auction will be replicated in future contests in the so-called just transition areas. In this sense, aspects such as the generation of employment or the implementation of vocational training plans so that the local population can participate, will be analyzed. In addition, the indirect effect on local business or industrial projects will also be considered.

The General Directorate of Energy Policy and Mines received, from the electrical system operator, the calculation of the individualized access capacity of the Mudejar 400 kV node. The analysis carried out by Red Eléctrica Española has taken into account, among other things, criteria associated with the short-circuit power and the static and dynamic stability of the network, resulting in 1.3 GW of allowable capacity for this node.

The regulatory order of the public auction for the concession of access capacity in the Mudejar 400 kV just transition node will be accessible at this link until June 15, 2021.

For its part, Endesa announced in 2018 that it would build 1,300 MW of photovoltaics in Compostilla and Andorra, where it will employ the workers of the closed plants.