The new Renewable Energies Action Plan (Plan de Acción de Energías Renovables or “PANER”) for 2011-2020 designs and incorporates the new general scenarios and objectives projected by the most recent Community legislation on fostering the use of renewable energy sources.

Based on the essential elements set forth in the PANER, the 2011-2020 Plan for Renewable Energies in Spain (Plan de Energías Renovables en España or “PER”) was prepared with a view to defining the strategy to follow in coming years so as to be able to continue favoring the growth and development of renewable energies in Spain.

As was the case in previous Plans, the main purpose of this Plan is to bolster the priority aims of the Government’s energy policy, such as guaranteeing and securing the supply of electricity and respecting the environment, with a view to fulfilling Spain’s commitments in this area at Community and international level. In this connection, the Plan again emphasizes the importance of renewable technologies, with estimates for 2020 of 22.7% of the gross final energy consumption and 42.3% of the gross electricity generation.

According to the available projections, one of the main measures included in the 2011-2020 PER will continue to be the grant of incentives to investments in technological innovation made by enterprises in the field of renewable energies, as well as the creation of lines of public aid.

In line with this line of support for business investments in renewable energies, the Council of Ministers approved the Action Plan 2008-2012 for the Energy Saving and Efficiency Strategy in Spain (PAE 4+) which is to strengthen Spain’s position at the cutting edge of energy saving and efficiency.

In this context, the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (Instituto para la Diversificación y Ahorro de la Energía or IDAE) has been developing a number of specific aid programs in the renewable energy industry.

In particular, the IDAE currently provides potential investors, inter alia, with the following lines:

• Project Finance and Lease of Services Line fundamentally aimed at investment projects in energy savings, energy efficiency and renewable energies, which have a preliminary analysis of technical/economic viability.
• Strategic Projects Aid Program, designed to provide incentives to companies for carrying out multi-year investment projects in energy saving and efficiency technologies.
• Biomcasa Program, aimed at bolstering the configuration of an energy supply based on the use of biomass, in line with the needs of potential users of hot water and air conditioning in buildings.
• Geotcasa Program which is to instrument a system for financing geothermic installations in buildings for authorized companies with a view, as well, to bolstering a quality offer in line with the needs of potential users of hot water and air conditioning in buildings.
• Solcasa Program, with the same objective as the foregoing, this program aims to set up a system of financing for solar thermal facilities in buildings for authorized companies.
• MOVELE Project, aimed at demonstrating electrical mobility in the urban environment, with a view to implementing at least 2,000 electric vehicles and at least 500 rechargers in various Spanish cities during the 2009-2010 period.

Meeting the objectives of the Plan for the Development of Renewable Energies also requires R&D&I initiatives, which has led to the involvement of the energy industry in the various R&D&I programs currently being implemented at EU and national level. In particular, the National Plan for R&D&I (2008-2011) includes an initiative focused on Energy and Climatic Change in the area known as “Strategic Action”.

In turn, most Autonomous Communities also offer subsidies and public aid under their own plans and programs to support renewable energies.

For further information, visit the extended version of our online Guide to Business:

Investment aid and incentives in Spain

Prepared by Garrigues

Last updated: 28|06|2011