IHA calls for Spanish government to solve growing energy waste

Spain has successfully doubled its wind and solar capacity since 2019, with renewables meeting 46% of electricity demand in 1H25. While this transition has driven wholesale prices 32% below the EU average, the lack of infrastructure to manage this supply is posing some challenges:

• Renewable curtailment (unused energy) is surging fast. In 2026 it is expected to exceed the record figure of 3 TWh; the equivalent to the annual consumption of approximately 3 million households.
• The April 2025 blackout highlighted an over-reliance on gas for stability. As consequence balancing costs spiked to 57% of the final electricity price in May 2025, up from a 14% annual average.

Eddie Rich, CEO of IHA said: “Spain has the potential to be the global blueprint for a successful energy transition, but they must not waste the progress they’ve made. We have the proven, mass scale, and secure technology available now. Without immediate action to integrate pumped storage, the economic and structural consequences will be felt for decades.”

The four-point action plan for the Spanish government

To ensure energy security and industrial sovereignty, IHA has issued a four-point plan endorsed by partners Iberdrola, EDP, Andritz Hydro, GE Vernova, Voith Hydro, and Mott MacDonald to urge the Spanish government to adopt the following policy pillars:

1. Differentiate storage policy: Distinguish between long-duration and short-duration storage in future legislation, regulation, policy, and national targets, to provide clear investment signals.
2. Compensate for all system services and introduce revenue stabilisation mechanisms: These measures enable developers attract commercial lenders, and reduce the capital cost of the project and, consequently, the overall energy system costs.
3. Update concession frameworks: Update concession agreements to allow longer terms, enabling new pumped storage projects to be added to existing hydropower assets.
4. Streamline permitting: Increase administrative capacity to reduce delays and bring strategic infrastructure projects online faster.

Pumped storage offers 8 – 50 hours of electricity storage and provides all the services required to stabilise and secure the operation of the grid for several generations. Pumped storage also provides ancillary services like synchronous inertia, short circuit power, frequency and voltage stability and black start capability. Crucially, pumped storage is a domestic resource that does not rely on complex and volatile international supply chains. It enables substantial economic benefits including the creation of thousands of direct and indirect jobs and enhance Spain’s independence from imported fossil fuels, raw materials and technology.

“This plan is the best way to ensure the loss of clean energy in Spain,” added Rich. “Water, wind, and sun can get the job done, but only if we have the capacity to store the power we produce.”

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Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/other-renewables/27042026/iha-calls-for-spanish-government-to-solve-growing-energy-waste/