Spain Approves Royal Decree 997/2025 to Modernize Electricity System

New Legislation Targets System Resilience and Efficiency

The Spanish Council of Ministers, at the request of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO), has approved a new legislative package, Royal Decree 997/2025, aimed at modernizing the country's electricity system. Published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on November 6, 2025, the decree introduces urgent measures designed to bolster the resilience, robustness, and stability of the national grid, particularly following incidents earlier in the year.

The legislation incorporates elements from the previously repealed Royal Decree-Law 7/2025 and focuses on three core pillars: strengthening supervision and control, accelerating the integration of energy storage, and promoting demand electrification.

Enhanced Supervision and Control Mechanisms

A key aspect of the new decree is the reinforcement of oversight within the electricity sector. The role of the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) is significantly expanded, granting it greater authority in network inspection. Under the new regulations, the CNMC will be required to:

• Publish quarterly reports on the compliance of market participants with voltage control obligations.
• Conduct an extraordinary inspection plan on supply replacement capabilities every three years.

Furthermore, Red Eléctrica (REE), as the System Operator, is mandated to propose regulatory modifications within three to six months. These proposals will address critical areas such as responses to power oscillations, voltage variation rates, technical restriction programming, and incident monitoring. REE will also implement a high-resolution (20 ms) incident recording system to enhance real-time evaluation of grid performance.

Boosting Energy Storage and Streamlining Processes

The Royal Decree places a strong emphasis on the development and integration of energy storage, recognizing its essential role in system stability and the effective incorporation of renewable energy sources. Spain aims to achieve a substantial 22.5 gigawatts (GW) of energy storage capacity by 2030, aligning with the objectives of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) 2023-2030.

To facilitate this, the decree introduces several measures:

• Simplified permitting procedures for storage projects, including exemptions from environmental assessments for facilities located within the perimeter of an already approved renewable plant.
• Explicit classification of energy storage facilities as a 'public utility,' providing them with legal support equivalent to generation facilities for aspects like land acquisition and permitting.
• Prioritization of hybridization with existing generation plants.
• Redefinition of the installed capacity for electrochemical storage modules and systems.

Accelerating Demand Electrification and Repowering

The legislation also seeks to accelerate the electrification of the Spanish economy. It promotes the connection of new economic activities, particularly industrial ones, to the electricity grid. Key provisions include:

• Establishing a five-year expiration period for unexercised access and connection rights to prevent speculative hoarding.
• Requiring the inclusion of the National Classification of Economic Activities (CNAE) code in access requests.
• Shortening response times for network extensions by distributors, which will benefit infrastructure development such as electric vehicle charging points.

Additionally, the decree encourages the renewal and repowering of existing generation facilities by incorporating the European legal definition of repowering and mandating the development of a National Roadmap for Repowering within nine months. These measures are expected to contribute to a more robust, efficient, and decarbonized electricity system in Spain.