Spain announced that its fourth round of renewable energy tenders will be held on November 22, including 1.8GW of solar photovoltaic projects and 1.5GW of wind energy, new energy installations aimed at accelerating the decarbonization of Spain's power system.

The country’s Ministry of Ecological Transformation (MITECO) also announced that it will also accept upgrades or hybrid system projects of existing projects in this latest round of tenders.

In addition, if part of the allocated capacity is not fully used for solar energy sytem or wind 1.5GW, then this capacity can be transferred to other technologies.

This will be the fourth tender held in Spain. The first tender was held in January 2021, when more than 2GW of solar system projects were signed; the second, in October 2021, signed only 866MW of solar.

The third tender, originally scheduled for April this year, will finally take place on October 25 and will procure 520MW of renewable energy, including 140MW of distributed solar.

The announcement comes as Spain will implement a series of measures over the next few months to bring about a 5% reduction in natural gas consumption. This is in line with the EU's pledge to reduce gas demand and accelerate renewable energy development ahead of winter, with European solar development expected to hit a record 40GW this year.

Earlier this year, the Spanish government said it would impose a windfall profits tax on power companies and banks starting next year to help Spaniards deal with soaring inflation.

In addition, MITECO announced the launch of a public proposal to accelerate the development of energy storage co-located with renewable energy projects.