The Council of Ministers approves Spain’s National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan

The new PNIEC estimates that by 2030 there will be 62 gigawatts (GW) of wind power installed, with 3 GW corresponding to offshore wind power – compared to 50 GW in the previous PNIEC – as well as a huge deployment of solar photovoltaic up to 76 GW (including 19 GW of self-consumption), 4.8 GW of solar thermal, 1.4 GW of biomass and 22.5 GW of storage – compared to 20 GW in the previous Plan.
The Council of Ministers is expected to approve this Tuesday the revision of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) with which it establishes the path to follow for decarbonisation and greater use of renewable energies, especially photovoltaic (PV), wind energy and storage, in line with the objectives set by Brussels.
In this way, the aim is to reach 105 GW of new renewables in the decade and 22.5 GW of energy storage in 2030, with a definitive cessation of coal that is brought forward to 2025.

With regard to nuclear power, the reduction is already planned with the agreed schedule of plant closures – which will start in 2027 with Almaraz -, with 3,181 MW still operational in 2030.

This deployment will mobilise up to 308 billion euros, which will have a positive impact on the labour market, creating up to 560,000 jobs in the coming year 2030 and increasing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 3.2% in that same year compared to a scenario in the absence of these measures.
In this update, the Spanish Government foresees a growth in electricity demand of 34% in 2030 compared to 2019, compared to the 5% it estimated in the PNIEC that it prepared in 2021 and which is now being revised, and also an increase in the production of indigenous energy, which would reach 50% of the total in 2030, compared to 27% in 2019, which would allow Spain to save 86.75 billion euros in fossil fuels.
The PNIEC is the national planning instrument proposed by the Government to meet the objectives and goals of the European Union (EU) within the framework of energy and climate policy, which must be updated and submitted periodically to the European Commission.

The strategic environmental declaration of this plan was published yesterday in the Official State Gazette (BOE), which establishes the general objectives for 2030, such as the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 32% compared to 1990, the use of 48% renewable energy in the final use of energy or the use of 81% renewable energy in electricity generation.

To meet the general objectives, it is necessary to achieve a series of goals broken down into several operational points such as decarbonisation, improved energy efficiency, energy security, a more competitive internal energy market or improved research.

In mid-September, the European Commission urged governments that had not yet submitted the final version of their energy and climate plans, including Spain, to do so as soon as possible since they represent a “key step” for the bloc to meet its 2030 emissions reduction target.

Spain had sent the last draft last July, but it was one of the 17 EU partners that had not yet sent the new final version of its national energy and climate plan (PNIEC) to the EU authorities.

After approval by the Council of Ministers, the government will send this Plan to the European Commission, the draft of which was presented last December and which improves the objectives of the first versions.