Acciona Energía Plans 33 MW/66 MWh BESS Projects to Hybridise Renewables in Spain

Spanish renewable energy developer Acciona Energía has announced plans to deploy two new battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Spain, with a combined capacity of 33 MW/66 MWh. Both projects will be developed alongside existing renewable energy assets, further expanding the company’s strategy of integrating energy storage with operational solar and wind facilities.

The first project will feature a 20 MW BESS with two hours of storage duration and will be located near the company’s 50 MW Bolarque solar PV plant in Cuenca, central-eastern Spain. The second project will have a capacity of 13 MW/26 MWh and will be developed near the El Cuadrón wind farm in Palencia, northern Spain.

By co-locating battery storage with existing renewable generation facilities, the projects are expected to strengthen the operational flexibility of Acciona Energía’s renewable portfolio. Energy storage can enable renewable electricity to be shifted toward periods of higher demand and can provide additional flexibility as the share of variable renewable generation increases.

The latest developments also build on Acciona Energía’s previous experience with renewable energy and storage integration. The company says it commissioned Spain’s first hybrid BESS integrated with a grid-connected wind farm in 2017, demonstrating its early involvement in combining renewable generation with battery storage technologies.

Acciona Energía has also deployed an energy storage system using second-life electric vehicle batteries at its Extremadura III solar PV complex in Badajoz, central-eastern Spain. The project reflects the company’s broader interest in different battery technologies and applications for integrating storage into renewable energy infrastructure.

Acciona Energía’s latest projects come as interest in renewable-plus-storage developments continues to increase across the Spanish market. The Spanish government has also introduced financial support mechanisms designed to accelerate the deployment of co-located renewable energy and storage projects.

Earlier this month, Spain’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) awarded €433 million (US$500 million) in funding to 524 renewable energy projects co-located with BESS, with the majority of the selected projects involving solar-plus-storage configurations.

The funding was awarded under the RENOINN 2 programme, which allocated a total of 2.3 GWh of energy storage capacity. This represents a substantial increase compared with the first round of the programme, which awarded 351.6 MWh, meaning the latest awarded storage capacity was approximately eight times higher.

The expansion of storage deployment reflects the growing importance of BESS in Spain’s renewable energy market. As solar and wind generation continue to expand, battery storage is becoming increasingly relevant for managing fluctuations in renewable output and improving the flexibility of the electricity system.

Acciona Energía is also expanding its renewable-plus-storage strategy beyond Spain. In Chile, the company plans to significantly increase its BESS portfolio through the development of a gigawatt-hour-scale battery system at the operational El Romero solar PV plant in the Atacama Desert.

The El Romero project, which is integrated with the 246 MWp solar PV facility, is expected to begin commercial operations by the end of 2027 and will have a planned capacity of 196 MW/980 MWh.

In addition, Acciona Energía has already started construction of another 1 GWh BESS project in Chile, located at the Malgarida solar PV complex, which has been operational since 2021.

Taken together, the projects demonstrate Acciona Energía’s continued expansion into hybrid renewable energy systems, combining established solar and wind generation assets with battery storage. The company’s growing BESS pipeline in both Europe and Latin America highlights the increasing role of energy storage in supporting renewable integration and improving the flexibility of power systems.