Commission approves Spanish support scheme for renewable electricity

Further information:

Under the scheme, beneficiaries receive support through a premium on top of the market price of electricity, so that they have to respond to market signals. This premium is meant to help these facilities compensate for costs that cannot be recovered from selling electricity in the market, and obtain a reasonable return on investment.

The scheme has been in place since 2014 and applies to new beneficiaries as well as to facilities that were benefitting from previous support. Since 2016, support to new facilities is granted through competitive auctions.

Background information:

The Commission's 2014 Guidelines on State Aid for Environmental Protection and Energy, enable Member States to support the production of electricity from renewable energy sources (including from renewable waste) and high efficiency combined heat and power plants, subject to certain conditions.

The European Commission revealed on 10 November 2017 it had considered a Spanish scheme supporting electricity generation from renewable energy sources, high efficiency cogeneration of heat, power and waste to be in line with EU State aid rules.