The Official State Gazette publishes Royal Decree 962/2024, of 24 September, which regulates the production of electricity from renewable sources at offshore facilities

On 25 September, Royal Decree 962/2024 of 24 September was published in the Official State Gazette, regulating the production of electricity from renewable sources at offshore facilities. This new regulation provides a boost to the production of electricity from renewable sources at offshore facilities.

The Royal Decree regulates a new competitive procedure for the development of marine renewable energy facilities that will simultaneously grant the economic regime for renewable energies, the reservation of connection capacity to the electricity grid and priority in the granting of the permit for the occupation of the maritime-terrestrial property.

The public tenders will be announced by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (Ministerio para la TransiciónEcológica y Reto Demográfico) and will define the areas of installation, power capacity and criteria for awarding the tender. A particularly innovative feature is the introduction of a public discussion period prior to the final announcement of the procedure, in which interested parties affected by the marine renewable facilities will be allowed to submit proposals for improving the bases of the procedure, which may be incorporated into the announcement of the procedure. The aim of this periodis to encourage public participation, industrial development and the coexistence of marine renewable facilities with other uses of the sea.

The new Royal Decree aims to ensure sustainability in the development of these offshore facilities, for which reason they may only be developedwithin the High Potential Areas (Zonas de Alto Potencial – ZAPER) defined in the Spanish Maritime Space Management Plans.

Finally, the Royal Decree exempts from this general regime those marine renewable facilities that obtain the qualification of ‘innovative’and also those located in Spanish ports of general interest. These installations may be developed outside the ZAPER zones and will not be subject to the competitive tendering system.

Link to the Royal Decree:https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2024-19172.