Urgent measures to reinforce the electricity system: new definition of installed capacity, promotion of hybrid storage and commitment to repowering

The Council of Ministers has approved Royal Decree 997/2025 of 5 November, on urgent measures to strengthen the electricity system (RD 997/2025) with the aim of establishing urgent measures that contribute to a more robust and stable electricity system. This regulation responds directly to the urgent need to strengthen the resilience, robustness and stability of the system following the electricity crisis that occurred on 28 April 2025. This incident, of extraordinary and unprecedented proportions, highlighted that the guarantee of electricity supply, an essential service of general economic interest, affects vital functions such as health, transport, security and socio-economic development.

The measures contained in RD 997/2025 are structured around three main axes:

• Supervision and control: strengthens the functions of the CNMC and the System Operator to guarantee stability, voltage and transparency.
• Strategic impetus: promotes storage and repowering.
• Administrative simplification: simplifying permits and reducing response times.

Enhanced supervision and mandates to the CNMC and REE

The decree introduces new monitoring and control obligations. Within three months (with quarterly updates), the CNMC must publish a report on compliance with voltage control obligations  and, within nine months, it must complete an extraordinary inspection plan for service restoration capabilities.

At the same time, among other obligations, the System Operator (REE) must analyse the installation and configuration of the PSS/POD within a maximum period of three months, propose a regulation for responding to rapid voltage variations and review stability requirements for active power injection. Within six months, it must review the adjustment services and technical restrictions. Also within six months, a proposal for an operating procedure to coordinate the development plans for the transmission and distribution networks must be analysed.

New definition of installed capacity for the purposes of administrative authorisations

The installed power of a generation module is defined as the maximum active power that the module can achieve, and is determined by the most limiting element connected in series (motor, turbine, alternator, photovoltaic panel, transformer, inverter or converter). If there are several elements connected in parallel, the installed power will be the sum of their powers. For bifacial photovoltaic panels, the installed power will be 1.15 times the power of the front side measured under standard conditions.

In the case of batteries, the installed power will be the lowest of three values: the sum of the maximum active powers of the battery cells, the maximum active power of the inverter (or sum of inverters), or the maximum active power of the transformer (or sum of transformers in parallel, applying a unit power factor). The installed power of a complete installation shall be the lowest of the sum of the installed power of all its modules (generation and storage) and the maximum active power of the installation's common transformer.

For administrative processing purposes, the new definition of installed power will apply to those installations that, having begun the process, have not yet obtained final operating authorisation. However, it is important to note the clarification introduced for those files for which the application of the new criterion would imply a change in the competent authority for their processing (i.e., those falling below 50 MW of installed power), which will continue to be processed by the authority where they began their processing until they obtain operating authorisation and registration in the RAIPEE, provided that there are no changes in installed capacity, in accordance with the definition prior to the entry into force of RD 997/2025, and provided that within three months of said entry into force, the administration is not notified of the withdrawal of the procedure initiated. In this regard, if, as a result of this regulatory change, a developer decides to withdraw an application already initiated in order to begin the process with another administration, without prejudice to the possible loss of access and connection permits, it shall be exempt from the enforcement of the financial guarantees placed.

Storage and hybridisation: reduction of processing times

RD 997/2025 recognises that storage is a key element for the resilience of the system and the integration of non-manageable renewable energies. To promote hybrid electrochemical storage, two simplification measures are introduced in facilities under the jurisdiction of MITECO:

1. Exemption from environmental assessment: The incorporation of an electrochemical storage module into a hybridisation will be exempt from the simplified environmental impact assessment procedure if it is located within the polygon that has already been environmentally assessed in the original energy project and this has a favourable environmental impact statement or report.
2. Reduction of deadlines due to urgency: The authorisation procedures for hybrid storage projects under the competence of the General State Administration that do not require an environmental impact assessment are declared urgent for reasons of public interest. This declaration implies a halving of the processing times for the prior administrative and construction authorisations defined in Royal Decree 1955/2000. Specifically, the deadlines for public information procedures and the referral of the project to other administrations are unified and reduced by half (Articles 125, 126, 127 and 131 of RD 1955/2000).

For the purposes of the administrative processing of the authorisations provided for in Article 53 of the Electricity Sector Law, the administrative authorisation procedure provided for new hybrid storage facilities shall apply to those facilities that begin their processing after the entry into force of RD 997/2025, always in facilities under the competence of MITECO.

Notwithstanding the above, those projects that have only begun the environmental procedure and are exempt from it under RD 997/2025 may continue the procedure or submit an amendment to the application to benefit from the simplified procedure, providing the necessary documentation.

Revitalisation of repowering

RD 997/2025 defines the repowering of a production or storage facility as the renovation —which may include the total or partial replacement or modification of equipment— at a previously used site with high energy resource availability, with more efficient facilities and greater capacity to generate energy and/or supply power to the electricity system, thereby increasing the installed capacity. This definition of repowering also includes the expansion of facilities, without prejudice to the environmental assessment procedure that may be applicable.

In order to comply with Directive (EU) 2023/2413, the First Additional Provision establishes that the Government shall draw up a National Roadmap for the Promotion of Repowering within a maximum period of nine months. This roadmap must include a diagnosis of the facilities eligible for repowering, strategic objectives, and technical, regulatory and financial measures.

Access and connection of demand: expiry and guarantees

In addition to the measures in RD 997/2025, the amendment to Royal Decree 1183/2020 introduces changes in the access and connection of demand and storage facilities.

The expiry of access permits is extended to all consumers connected to voltages above 1 kV if the holders do not formalise an access contract for at least 50% of the capacity granted within five years of the permit being granted.

The Third Transitional Provision establishes that this expiry shall apply to permits already granted prior to the entry into force of RD 997/2025 (between 1 kV and 36 kV), and the five-year period will be calculated from 7 November 2025 (date of entry into force of RD 997/2025).

In order to maintain the validity of demand and storage access permits, criteria are established to consider that a facility remains the same. For example, the facility will not be considered the same if its geometric centre is moved more than 10 km, or if the demand access capacity is reduced by more than 50% of the capacity originally requested and granted.

RD 997/2025 modifies the references that must be included in the financial guarantee required for the processing of demand and storage facility access and connection procedures: this guarantee must indicate at least the name and location of the consumption, the CNAE code (except in the case of storage, which must be indicated) and the capacity requested. A period of six months (i.e. until 7 May 2026) is granted to replace any guarantees already deposited that do not contain these details.

Phasing of the operating licence

For generation and storage facilities for which the General State Administration is competent for authorisation, the procedure for granting the operating authorisation shall consist of a provisional operating authorisation phase for testing and a definitive operating authorisation phase, which shall allow, respectively, for provisional and definitive registration in the Register of Electricity Production Facilities:

a) The provisional operating authorisation for testing shall be requested by providing a certificate of completion of works and, where applicable, justification for any modifications that may have been included in the project executed under the provisions of Article 115.3 of Royal Decree 1955/2000. This authorisation shall be issued within one month, after the appropriate technical checks have been carried out.

In the case of facilities that share evacuation, a partial provisional authorisation for the shared evacuation infrastructure may be issued, allowing other generation facilities to obtain their own.

b) The final operating authorisation shall be issued once the tests have been completed, accompanied, if required, by the Final Operational Notification (FON). The deadline for issuing this authorisation is also one month.

In the case of facilities with shared evacuation, the provisional partial authorisation for the shared evacuation infrastructure may be used to obtain the final operating authorisation for the generation facility.

Transitional requirements for obtaining the final operating authorisation

The second transitional provision of RD 997/2025 contains a significant relaxation of requirements in relation to obtaining the final operating authorisation and compliance with the fifth administrative milestone established in Article 1 of the Royal Decree approving measures in the field of energy and other areas for economic recovery, of 23 June. Thus:

a) For the purposes of the issuance of the issuance of the definitive operating authorisation the FON for the may be replaced by the delivery of the Provisional Notification (ION) and prior registration in the RAIPEE.

b) In the event that a project is close to the expiry date of the fifth administrative milestone, the documentation referred to in section a) above may be replaced by the provisional operating authorisation for testing, the Energisation Operational Notification (EON) and a responsible declaration in which the titleholder undertakes not to discharge energy until the documentation referred to in section a) above or the FON has been provided.

These flexibility measures will be applicable until 7 November 2028 (36 months from the entry into force of RD 997/2025).

If you would like to know more about the new regulations and their possible implications, please do not hesitate to contact one of our experts listed below or your usual contact at Osborne Clarke. At Osborne Clarke, we are committed to keeping abreast of the impact that these new regulations may have on the sector.