Spanish government to hold public consultation on energy storage and hydrogen strategy

Spain’s government is opening up a public consultation on the role energy storage and hydrogen should play in its national energy mix over the next 10 years.

The Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenges (MITECO) said it will be receiving comments for 15 days after the current COVID-19 crisis-related state of emergency the country has declared is over.

Spain is implementing a National Energy and Climate Plan for the years 2021-2030 (PNIEC 2021-2030), legislation through which, much like a similar plan in neighbouring Portugal, will inform energy policy in line with its climate commitments as an EU Member State. That plan has already been sent to the European Commission for approval. MITECO said a strategy document and a roadmap are considered “essential” to achieving the PINEC 2021-2030 objectives as well as meeting the continent’s Clean Energy For All Europeans ‘green new deal’ policy package.

The Ministry said it sees energy storage as an enabler of opportunity to decarbonise the energy system and effectively integrate renewable energy technologies, while storage can also enable ctizens to generate and consume their own power and standalone storage can also provide network services. MITECO wants respondents to offer their views on topics including: the role energy storage can play in the energy sector, what sort of incentives might be appropriate to stimulate deployment, how to encourage citizen participation in the energy sector and what technologies might be suitable.