Spain expands Andalusia grid capacity by 5 GW under revised €17B national plan

Revised national grid plan presented in Seville

Spain's Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge presented a revised 2030 electrical transmission plan during an evening meeting in Seville on 30 September 2026. State Secretary for Energy Joan Groizard presented the document to Andalusia's regional minister for industry, Jorge Paradela, following a flight delay that postponed the opening session past 7:30 PM. The revised government proposal assigns Andalusia a 5,000-megawatt transmission capacity increase for new demand alongside 9,000 megawatts for renewable power generation and storage. Across Spain, the updated electrical planning budget reached 17 billion euros, representing an addition of nearly 4 billion euros compared to previous allocations. Groizard stated that the central executive intends to formally approve the planning document before the end of 2026 to permit grid operator Red Eléctrica to begin construction.

Network expansion and infrastructure targets

Under the revised framework, Andalusia will receive 1,283 kilometres of new electricity transmission lines, accounting for roughly one in five of the 6,706 kilometres planned across Spain through 2030. The program also schedules the repowering of 651 kilometres of existing power lines and the construction of 19 new substation yards, comprising roughly 20% of new substation additions nationwide. The expanded network aims to provide electrical capacity for prospective green hydrogen facilities, port electrification programs across maritime provinces, and municipal housing developments previously halted by grid connection constraints. Following discussions that concluded past 9:00 PM, Groizard described the regional allocation during a joint media conference.

Andalusia is the autonomous community with the largest state investment in this planning, but above all it is the one with the largest deployment of power lines.

Regional deficit and historical allocations

The revisions followed formal objections submitted by the Andalusian administration, which had commissioned a technical report from the General Secretariat for Energy and the Andalusian Energy Agency after three years of assessment. Those studies established that Andalusia had an electricity transmission grid density 40% below the peninsular average, with 742 kilometres of lines compared to the peninsular average of 1,242 kilometres. Earlier draft proposals had allocated Andalusia 11.8% of national electrical investment, falling short of its objective shares in population (18%), land area (17.3%), and power consumption (15%). Paradela had described the ministry's initial proposal as disappointing in January 2026 after identifying 119 priority industrial ventures that were impossible to connect under the earlier baseline.

Renewable generation and municipal energy growth

The grid capacity expansion coincides with growing renewable energy generation across southern Spain. Andalusia contributed over 25% of new renewable installations in Spain in recent years, reaching 37% between January and June 2026. Speaking earlier on 30 September 2026 at the Third Energy Communities Summit in Seville, Paradela noted that local collective generation reached 68 megawatts across 1,776 facilities, with solar photovoltaic installations providing 14 of the region's 20 total gigawatts. Paula Santos, director of energy communities at the Spanish Photovoltaic Union, noted that Spain reached 837 energy communities across three years while awaiting a royal decree to clarify municipal regulations. Following the evening talks, Paradela characterized the revised grid plan as tangible progress while noting that regional authorities will review detailed technical specifications before confirming viability for individual industrial sites.