Two UK-based companies announced an agreement to jointly develop as much as 2.2 GW of battery energy storage system (BESS) projects across Spain.

Renewco Power, a UK-headquartered renewable energy group with offices in Madrid and Sevilla, Spain, and Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure—a London-based company—on March 10 said Renewco will develop the projects to ready-to-build status, and Atlantica would manage the portfolio. The 2.2-GW pipeline still needs to secure grid connection. Renewco last year began efforts to find an investment partner for a greenfield BESS portfolio of 16 projects in Spain that would connect to transmission substations across the country.

Monday’s announcements noted forthcoming grid capacity auctions planned by the Spanish government. Officials have discussed fast-tracking BESS projects, including providing special grid connection routes, as Spain looks to build energy storage power generation capacity.

Renewco, launched in 2021, has a team of more than 50 renewable energy specialists. The company is developing a 7-GW pipeline of solar, wind, BESS, and green hydrogen projects across the UK, Spain, Italy and the U.S. Renewco’s presence in Spain has a development pipeline of wind, solar, BESS, and green hydrogen projects.

Atlantica has a presence in 12 countries, mainly in North America, Europe, and South America. Atlantica has 2.2 GW of aggregate renewable energy installed generation capacity in operation. The company has a strong presence in Spain that includes 682 MW of installed solar power capacity. Atlantica also has a pipeline of about 3 GW of renewable energy, and 12 GWh of energy storage. The company said 93% of its capacity is located in North America and Europe.

“We are delighted to start this partnership with Atlantica which we believe is set to have a positive impact on Spain’s energy infrastructure,” said Alp Karli, Renewco’s chief commercial officer. “For our BESS development operations across Spain, we are looking forward to utilizing our experience in the UK and other markets which are ahead of Spain in deploying BESS in its grid infrastructure to enable the renewables transition.”

“Renewco and Atlantica have considerable synergies and we are excited to be one of their deployment partners in BESS development and portfolio construction in Spain,” said Pedro Perejon, Renewco’s country manager for Spain. Carlos Colon, Renewco’s country manager for Spain, said, “We are thrilled to embark on this partnership with Renewco. The development of BESS solutions is pivotal in driving the energy transition in countries like Spain. By developing energy storage, we can ensure a reliable and stable power grid, enabling to further integrate renewable energy into our electricity mix and pave the way for a sustainable future.”

—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.