Iberdrola España allocated ERDF monies for energy storage projects in six autonomous communities in Spain
- The company was awarded €170M to build batteries, pumping and industrial thermal storage facilities
- The projects will be located in Extremadura, Galicia, Castile and León, Asturias, Andalusia and the Valencian Community
Iberdrola España will receive more than €170M in aid to build storage projects, from the first call for aid for innovative nergy storage projects co-financed with ERDF 2021–2027 funds, awarded by the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE).
The company will allocate €130M to co-finance 11 BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) batteries , €22M to three industrial thermal storage projects and €18M to expand the capacity of a pumping project.
The batteries, which will be located in Extremadura (4), Galicia (3), Castile and León (2), Asturias (1) and Andalusia (1), will have an average power of 35–40 MW, and 10 of them will have shared access so they can benefit from cross-project synergies. Five of them will be hybridised with photovoltaic technology and five with wind power, while one will be a stand-alone energy storage system.
The three industrial thermal storage projects have a combined capacity of 190 MWht and will be located in Andalusia, the Valencian Community and Galicia, covering the food and beverage, ceramics and canning industries.
The pumping project will serve to expand the capacity of the Torrejón plant, located between the Torrejón-Tajo and Alcántara reservoirs.
Iberdrola España invests in energy storage
Iberdrola España promotes efficient energy storage as one of the key levers for electrification, decarbonisation and energy transition. It is committed to large-scale storage through pumped hydroelectric power stations and small-scale storage through Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).
The company is a leader in energy storage through hydroelectric generation and pumped storage, with 4.5 GW of installed capacity. Among the company's most notable pumped storage hydroelectric power stations on the Iberian Peninsula are those at La Muela, Villarino, Támega and Santiago-Sil-Xares.
Iberdrola España has been a pioneer in the development of electrical energy storage using lithium-ion batteries. In 2021, it was the first company to install a hybrid battery with photovoltaic technology in Campo Arañuelo III in Extremadura.
The company also has a 20 MWh battery in Puertollano, which stores the output from a nearby solar plant to generate green hydrogen for Europe's largest industrial hydrogen plant, and two in the Basque Country. One is in Abadiño in Vizcaya, connected to the Oiz wind farm, which allows it to feed directly into the grid and operate without needing to be connected to any facility, and the other is in Áraba, which stores wind energy from the Elgea-Urkilla wind farm.
Iberdrola España currently has six more batteries at an advanced stage of construction in Castile and León, Extremadura, Castile-La Mancha and Andalusia, recognised as Strategic Projects for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) in its renewable energy, green hydrogen and storage division (ERHA).
