By the mid-1990s, the industry was still so low-tech that when a turbine blade broke at what was then Spain’s largest wind farm, Jose Manuel Entrecanales would bring in a windsurfer friend to repair it with the same equipment he used to fix surfboards. It was an extremely rudimentary and artisanal business,” said Entrecanales, now chairman and CEO at Acciona, one of Spain’s largest developers of renewable projects. That bold bet has lowered Spain’s power bills — which are now cheaper than they were before the latest Middle East conflict or the invasion of Ukraine — and put the country on track to meet its 2030 renewable targets.
Spain is both ahead of the clean-power curve and the fastest-growing major economy in Europe, proof that deploying green energy at massive scale isn’t at odds with growth. But as the renewables sector matures and a brutal European summer of wildfires and deadly heat waves underscores the energy transition’s urgency, the Spanish model is reaching its limits. Solar and wind installations can only take the country so far down the path to decarbonization, according to experts, companies and government officials.
Massive investment in large batteries and the power grid is also badly needed, and investors and foreign governments are paying close attention to the challenge Spain faces. Renewable-energy generation this summer is the highest on record, according to provisional data from power-grid operator Red Electrica. Surging investment in solar over the past 15 years has created a glut of electricity so large that Spain’s energy prices have increasingly fallen well below zero during peak times.
Solar parks have plummeted in value, leaving investors looking for an exit and pushing some developers out of business. At the same time, the inherent instability of renewable energy has led to sharp swings in power frequency, contributing to the massive blackout that briefly plunged the Iberian Peninsula into darkness in April last year. Battery storage, and lots of it, can help fix oversupply by absorbing excess solar power during the day and feeding the grid at night.
Batteries can also stabilize the grid by releasing stored electricity when power drops, such as when the weather changes. Unlike the nuclear and gas power plants that currently serve the purpose, batteries need no time to ramp up and can be turned on instantaneously. But on this next step of the energy transition, Spain is lagging behind.
The country had about 400 megawatts of installed battery storage capacity in 2025, according to BloombergNEF. That’s less than 2% of the 22.5 gigawatts the country is targeting by 2030. While BNEF expects installed capacity to more than triple in 2026 and see continued growth in the years that follow, delayed regulation and the lack of a capacity market to help ensure energy-supply security have so far discouraged investors.
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