Spain’s new tender cements government’s reputation as solar laggards

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Protesters in Spain highlight the 'criminalisation' of solar. Source: Twitter/Solartradex

For the past five years, Spain’s government has been the poster boy for the European solar crash.

They overstimulated the market, then pulled the rug from under the industry in spectacular fashion. Investors and consumers that were benefitting from the country’s solar potential were cut off.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

Not ready to commit yet?
  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

The threat of huge fines for unregulated self-consumption of PV was deemed a “criminalisation” of solar. Protestors turned up outside a jail in prison garb replete with shackles and balls n’ chains to highlight the absurdity of the new laws. The retroactive changes saw banks literally being handed back the keys to solar sites. A government programme encouraging people to invest their pension pot into solar power means many regular people lost their life’s savings.

Installs have predictably plummeted.

When the country announced a fresh 3GW renewable energy tender in December 2016, there was hope that an auction-based, post-subsidy solar market could be provided an opportunity to thrive.

As the first details of the structure of the new auction emerge, it would appear those hopes were unfounded.

With subsidy support off the table, the latest slap in the face for the solar sector is perhaps the most extraordinary. Perhaps also the most transparent. The fig leaf (granted, it was a big fig leaf) of subsidy overspend has been removed and the motives of the government are laid bare.

In short, a floor price (yes, Spain doesn’t want to see its tender prices get too low) will be put in place. This will create a situation where projects, wind and solar, will end up in a tie. In the event of the (inevitable) tie, the projects with the greatest hours of operation will be selected. In other words, in the result of a tie, the biggest wind projects win.

From South Africa to Brazil to India, competitive tenders have delivered FiT-free value to offtakers. The independent power producer (IPP) model is yielding impressive results in the Middle East with Saudi Arabia the latest to join in. So with all these successful systems in place, why would you limit the potential of a tender programme with a floor price and technology biased bylaws?

Aside from the fact that this is hardly in the spirit with the European Commission’s insistence on renewable support programmes being competitive, it undermines the benefits of switching to renewables in the first place.

At this point, it is important to stress that this is not an anti-wind issue. The problem is that this restricts the possibility for change. It limits the democratisation of energy and it protects the interests the major utilities and investors, not bill payers.

Any possibility for decentralised assets is greatly diminished when the advantage is handed to large-scale wind developments. Bluntly, the move appears designed to ensure that incumbent electricity players don’t miss out.

The finer details of the tender are labyrinthine. It has emerged that the floor prices, which will be taken as a percentage below the benchmark price, will not even be the same for each technology. Wind will be permitted to bid further below its benchmark price than solar.

The Madrid government presented solar as safe bet and a lucrative investment. Its retroactive changes undermined those claims. Anyone assuming the latest tender is a good bet should bear in mind that the die are very much loaded.

2 December 2025
Málaga, Spain
Understanding PV module supply to the European market in 2026. PV ModuleTech Europe 2025 is a two-day conference that tackles these challenges directly, with an agenda that addresses all aspects of module supplier selection; product availability, technology offerings, traceability of supply-chain, factory auditing, module testing and reliability, and company bankability.
10 March 2026
Frankfurt, Germany
The conference will gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing out to 2030 and beyond.

Read Next

August 29, 2025
Independent power producer (IPP) Verano Energy has closed a US$204 financing for a 83MW/660MWh solar-plus-storage project in Chile.
August 29, 2025
The first half of 2025 has been the strongest year for UK solar energy generation on record, according to a new report think tank Ember.
August 28, 2025
Venture capital firm Pacific Channel has launched Fund V, which targets 10GW of solar, wind, and energy storage in New Zealand.
August 27, 2025
Independent power producer RP Global is building a 50MWp solar project in Harbke, Germany.
August 27, 2025
Solargis' Marcel Suri reports on the mixing of datasets in solar project planning to artificially enhance financial attractiveness.
August 27, 2025
Norwegian energy company Statkraft has sold its Netherlands solar portfolio of 120MWp to Dutch renewable energy supplier Greenchoice.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece
Solar Media Events
September 30, 2025
Seattle, USA
Solar Media Events
October 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
October 2, 2025
London,UK
Solar Media Events
October 7, 2025
Manila, Philippines