Country Reports
There are no specific market incentives for ocean energy in Spain but for renewable energy installations in general.
PUBLIC FUNDING PROGRAMMES
SPAIN
Yago Torre-Enciso & Jose Luis Villate
BiMEP & TECNALIA
SUPPORTING POLICIES FOR OCEAN ENERGY
NATIONAL STRATEGY
During 2019, the Spanish Government continued working in the Energy and Climate National Integrated Plan 2021-2030, and in the Energy Transition and Climate Change Law. Both documents will fix the framework to develop new energy infrastructures, the energy source targets for 2030 and new rules to boost renewable energy in general and, hopefully, ocean energy specifically.
Nowadays, the energy policy relays on the new Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the main permits needed to develop an ocean energy power plant (environmental, use of the marine space, energy production) have to be approved by this Ministry.
The Energy and Climate National Integrated Plan 2021-2030, at draft stage, sets for ocean energy the target of reaching 25 MW of installed capacity for 2025 and 50 MW for 2030. The renewable energy contribution is expected to reach 42% in 2030.
Currently, there is no specific organisation responsible for the implementation of any Ocean Energy programme, because up to now Ocean Energy has not been a priority in the Spanish policy.
The Basque Government approved in 2016 its Energy Strategy for 2030, which included a specific initiative to speed up technology and commercial development for marine energy and set a target of 60 MW by 2030.
Regarding the regulatory framework, no dedicated consenting process exists for ocean energy technologies in Spain but there are several legal documents affecting ocean energy projects:
- The Royal Decree 1028/2007 establishes the administrative procedure for processing applications for electricity generating facilities in territorial waters. Although it focuses on offshore wind, it also includes electricity generation from other marine renewable technologies;
- Law 2/2013, of 29 May, for protection and sustainable use of coastal and amending the previous Coastal Law of 1988. It provides the legal framework for occupation of the territorial sea, as well as governing issues affecting the fishing sector and safety conditions for maritime navigation;
- Law 21/2013, of 9 December, establishes a simplified process on Environmental Impact Assessment for all marine energy projects.
MARKET INCENTIVES
There are no specific market incentives for ocean energy in Spain but for renewable energy installations in general.
PUBLIC FUNDING PROGRAMMES
There are several national and regional funding programmes to support R&D and demonstration projects in Spain but most of them are no specific for ocean energy. The only two programmes focused on ocean energy are:
- OCEANERA-NET COFUND is an initiative of eight national and regional government agencies from six European countries, which has received funding from the European Union under the Horizon 2020 Programme for Research and Innovation. The participating countries/regions are: the Basque Country, Brittany, Ireland, Pays de la Loire, Portugal, Scotland, Spain and Sweden. The aim is to coordinate support for research and development in ocean energy, to encourage collaborative projects that tackle some of the key challenges identified for the sector as it progresses towards commercialisation. The project launched the first co-funded call during 2017 and approved projects started in 2018;
- The Basque Energy Agency (EVE) launched a new call of its “Demonstration and validation of emerging marine renewable energy technologies” programme in 2019. As previous calls, the programme has a budget of €2,5 million for a maximum of 3-year duration projects.
