Overview
- The Ministry for the Ecological Transition began the administrative process on Thursday after Red Eléctrica requested a third, urgent modification to the 2021–2026 transmission plan.
- REE’s proposal would buy four e‑STATCOM compensators and add 28 reactances plus substation works at an estimated cost of €607 million to improve voltage control and damp inter‑area oscillations.
- REE and the Ministry say the package could save about €400 million a year by cutting the need to force gas combined‑cycle plants to provide technical services, a use that cost €3,351 million in 2025 under the 'restricciones técnicas' mechanism.
- Separately, the government boosted RENOVE repowering funds to €512 million and provisionally awarded €178.5 million to 35 projects in Galicia that include wind repowering and small‑hydro upgrades with reservoir hybridization.
- The moves respond to a concentrated boom in southern solar PV that has driven higher south‑to‑north flows than planned and could trigger faster grid modernisation, lower consumer bills, less fuel import dependence and more local storage capacity to help balance variable renewables.