en.Wedoany.com Reported - Spain's Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (Miteco) has initiated the second round of reliable power tender procedures, planning to allocate 820.5 MW of capacity to meet electricity supply needs by 2031, with the majority of projects located in the Canary Islands. Simultaneously, the ministry has opened public consultations on two regulatory reforms, concerning the framework for electricity storage and a new remuneration formula for renewable energy generation. These proposals cover the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla.

The tender process is being implemented through a public hearing to issue a draft resolution for the tender, granting favorable compatibility resolutions through competitive bidding, allowing projects to gain recognition under the additional remuneration mechanism in non-peninsular power systems. Miteco has requested Red Eléctrica, as the system operator, to update the five-year coverage requirements, following the conclusion of the first tender round in February, which awarded over 1,450 MW of capacity. Red Eléctrica's analysis incorporates the results of the first tender round and recently commissioned interconnection facilities, indicating that all non-peninsular territories require additional reliable power, driven by expected economic growth. The specific allocation is as follows: 80 MW for the Balearic Islands, 320 MW for Gran Canaria, 230.5 MW for Tenerife-La Gomera, 95 MW for Lanzarote-Fuerteventura, 52 MW for La Palma, 10 MW for El Hierro, 1 MW for Ceuta, and 32 MW for Melilla.

New dispatchable generation units, new investments in existing units, and regulatory life extensions of operational facilities are eligible to participate in the bidding. Selection is based on technical-economic priority, considering total cost savings, combined with criteria such as carbon emissions (must not exceed 550 g CO2/kWh), self-supply capacity, and facility location determined by connection nodes and opinions from autonomous community governments. The proposal also raises technical thresholds to incentivize the adoption of higher-efficiency components. In the Canary Islands, unit renewal is driven by penalizing units operating beyond 40 years by 2031, and requiring new facilities to use at least 5% renewable-sourced fuel when available. Objections to this tender can be sent to bzn-consulta.tnp@miteco.es before August 5, with the email subject line "Procedimiento de concurrencia competitiva".

Miteco has also opened public consultation on a draft amendment to Royal Decree 738/2015, which regulates production and dispatch procedures for non-peninsular territory power systems. This reform establishes a legal framework for electricity storage, encompassing storage hybridized with generation facilities and standalone systems. The regulation aims to provide flexibility to the power system, enhance the integration capacity of renewable energy generation, and replace fossil fuel generation. For the first time, the Canary Islands power system will publish the average marginal price of generation, with a market mechanism allowing storage facilities to compete directly on price with traditional fossil fuel plants. The draft designs a dispatch system where dispatch schedules for standalone battery storage are determined by the system operator through price signals to incentivize investment; for hybrid storage (combined with solar PV and wind), the incentive factor is the "thermal gap factor," designed to promote storage entering the system during periods with more fossil fuel generation. The draft also proposes replacing the daily price received by renewable energy generation with the moving average of the peninsular electricity market price over the past year, to improve revenue predictability, incentivize new investment, and avoid the shutdown of renewable energy plants during negative or zero electricity prices. Objections to this draft can be sent to bzn-consulta.tnp@miteco.es before August 4, with the email subject line "Alegaciones PRD modificación 738".

Secretary of State for Energy Joan Groizard, during a visit to the Canary Islands, stated to the Islands' Energy Industry Working Group and the Canary Islands Government that these measures aim to promote renewable energy integration, strengthen supply security, and reduce dependence on external energy sources, while taking into account the specificities of each region.