Spain puts 600 MW of grid access at Maciñeira out to tender

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Spain has opened another block of grid access in a former coal area. This one is allocated on merit rather than by queue position. On 30 September 2026 the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) put out for public hearing the draft order that regulates and calls the tender for the Maciñeira 400 kV node in Galicia. The tender will grant 600 MW of grid access capacity to renewable and storage projects. Comments on the proposal are open until 22 October 2026.

Maciñeira is tied to the closure of the As Pontes coal-fired power station. The Government declared it a just transition node in April 2026. It will be the second just transition tender in Galicia, after the Meirama 220 kV node. The allocation route is what sets it apart from the eleven nodes MITECO opened on 23 September by order of application. At Maciñeira the access goes to the strongest scored proposal, not to the first complete request.

The scoring is where the commercial weight sits. Of the 100 points, 64 go to socioeconomic benefits for the As Pontes just transition zone, which covers 14 municipalities in the provinces of A Coruña and Lugo. MITECO names local employment, worker training, the development of self-consumption, investment in the A Coruña and Lugo value chain and participatory financing among the factors that count.

The remaining points prioritise projects that minimise their environmental impact and contribute to the circular economy and biodiversity. They also favour projects that incorporate storage and technical capabilities that reinforce the grid and that show a higher degree of maturity. Storage therefore earns points under the scoring, which matters for wind and solar developers weighing whether to hybridise a bid. MITECO has not set out how those 36 points split by criterion in its announcement, so that weighting is the number to confirm in the final order.

For developers and IPPs the practical read is that price and readiness alone will not secure access here. A competitive bid at Maciñeira is built around what the project commits to the zone, with storage, grid support and maturity as the differentiators on the remaining points. The public hearing is the window to shape those rules before the call is final. At 600 MW on a 400 kV node, it is a meaningful opportunity for the projects that prepare for it.

Synertics tracks grid access, auction and revenue signals like this one across the ENTSO-E markets through SEMT, which brings market intelligence, PPA origination and revenue monitoring together in one place for operators, IPPs and asset managers. If you are weighing a bid at Maciñeira and want to see how a hybrid wind, solar or storage position reads against the Spanish market, you can request access at https://synertics.io/signup/ or reach us at info@synertics.io.