Spain invests €265 million in pumped hydro storage
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Spain committed €265 million (about $302 million) to 11 pumped hydro energy storage projects across seven autonomous communities.
The funds come from the Boralmac program, distributed across two rounds of funding between 2024 and 2026. These projects will add almost 4.1 GW of power and 49.9 GWh of storage capacity to Spain’s energy grid, and are slated for completion by 2035.
The first round of Boralmac funding awarded €100 million to four projects, with the largest grant of €44.9 million going to the BOREAL project in Alcántara, Extremadura, for a new pumped hydro plant. Several projects, including those in Castilla y León, will repurpose existing infrastructure like abandoned mines to store energy. The original deadline for these projects was 2030, but the Institute for the Diversification and Saving of Energy (IDAE) extended it to 2035.
A second round of funding initially budgeted at €90 million increased to €165 million due to high demand. Seven projects were selected from this round, including the Baells facility in Barcelona and the La Barca project in Asturias, which will have the largest energy storage capacity at 4.74 GWh. IDAE evaluated projects based on their economic viability, technical merit, permitting status, and ability to support renewable energy and grid stability.
