Elawan wins funding for co-located batteries at Spanish renewables sites

• Elawan secured €3.8 million in state support to add 31.3 MWh of batteries at operating wind and solar plants in Albacete, Spain.

Elawan Energy has obtained €3.8 million in Spanish state funding to install two battery systems totaling 31.3 MWh at its operating wind and solar sites in Albacete. It’s a modest amount of storage by gigawatt-scale standards, but it’s pointed at the right problem: squeezing more value—and flexibility—out of assets that already generate cheap, clean power.

Co-locating batteries at existing plants is efficient. You share the interconnection and substation, trim conversion losses versus standalone storage, and plug into a control system that already knows the site. Two- to four-hour batteries can soak up mid-day solar and windy off-peak hours, then discharge into evening demand, boosting capture rates and reducing curtailment. With grid-forming inverters, the batteries can also provide fast frequency response and voltage support—services Spain increasingly values as inverter-based generation grows.

The public funding helps clear early hurdles: engineering, procurement of long-lead electrical gear, and integration work to ensure safety systems, fire suppression and thermal management meet modern standards. Expect the usual environmental conditions—noise and visual mitigation, traffic management during installation, and end-of-life plans that prioritize recycling battery modules and balance-of-system components.

For Albacete’s local grid, even small batteries can punch above their weight if they’re placed at the right node. They can ease constraints on sunny, breezy days and cushion ramps when the sun fades or demand spikes. For Elawan, the retrofits diversify revenue beyond energy sales into ancillary markets and strengthen the business case for future hybridizations across the fleet.

Spain’s broader story is the shift from adding raw megawatts to shaping megawatt-hours. As solar penetration deepens and the evening peak sharpens, projects that can move energy in time—and stabilize the system while they’re at it—will earn a premium. Elawan’s Albacete batteries are a pragmatic step in that direction: not headline-grabbing on size, but smart on system value.