Enel obtains authorization for a 17.5 MW battery at the Tesouro wind farm

The General Directorate of Energy Policy and Mines has granted Enel Green Power España, S.L. prior administrative authorization and administrative construction authorization for a battery storage installation with 17.5 MW of installed capacity, hybridized with the Tesouro wind farm, in the municipality of As Pontes de García Rodríguez. The resolution, signed in Madrid on September 29, 2026, by the general director Manuel García Hernández, is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of A Coruña number 203, corresponding to Friday, October 23, 2026, with announcement number 2026/6815.

The regulation stems from a request submitted by the promoter on January 18, 2023, and was processed in accordance with Royal Decree 1955/2000, of December 1, which regulates transport, distribution, and marketing activities and the authorization procedures for electrical installations. The file was initiated in the Industry and Energy Area of the Government Delegation in Galicia, which issued a report on August 27, 2026.

The operation consists of adding a battery module to an already authorized wind installation: the Tesouro farm, with 50.4 MW, has had construction authorization since June 28, 2024, and a favorable environmental impact statement from January 23, 2023. For processing purposes, the installed capacity of the hybrid installation will be the sum of the two modules.

A 37 MWh lithium module

The project, dated March 2023, provides for the following technical characteristics:

• Lithium-ion storage technology, with a capacity of 37 MWh.
• Fifteen 40-foot containers (12.19 meters): ten for battery modules and five for power conversion systems.
• Five inverters with a unit capacity of 3.5 MW.
• Installed capacity of 17.5 MW, according to article 5 of Royal Decree 997/2025, of November 5.
• Maximum active power of the transformer of 62 MW and access capacity of 60 MW, according to the permits granted by Red Eléctrica de España, S.A.U.

The authorized evacuation infrastructure is limited to the connection with the farm’s own substation: two underground circuits at 33 kV, an indoor single-bus sectioning center with three input positions and one output position, an underground line of 822.30 meters —RHZ1 Al 18/30 kV conductor, 400 mm² section— and the expansion of the SET Tesouro 33/220 kV, to which a new 33 kV transformer-type cell is added. The rest of the evacuation to the PUENTES G.R. 400 kV substation remains outside the scope of the file, as it utilizes the already authorized infrastructures of the wind farm.

Negative report from Public Health

The processing recorded a relevant discrepancy. The General Directorate of Public Health of the Ministry of Health of the Xunta de Galicia expressed its opposition to the project, considering an environmental impact assessment of the synergistic effects between the wind farm and the battery plant necessary, and reiterated this in a second report. The promoter maintained that the processing complied with Law 21/2013, of December 9, as the batteries were located within the perimeter of the wind farm with a favorable impact declaration, and that the project was not within the scope of application of the regulation at the time of the request.

The remaining consulted bodies presented no objections:

• Augas de Galicia concluded that a significant environmental impact is not foreseeable.
• The General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and the General Directorate of Emergencies and Interior of the Xunta did not formulate any opposition.
• Endesa Generación, S.A. and the Sub-directorate of Defense in A Coruña responded without objections, once the information regarding aeronautical easements was provided.
• The City Council of As Pontes de García Rodríguez and the general directorates of Natural Heritage, Renewable Energies and Climate Change, and Energy Planning and Mines did not respond, their conformity being understood.

The request was submitted for public information with publication on April 28, 2026, in the Official State Gazette and on April 30, 2026, in the Official Gazette of the Province of A Coruña, with no allegations received.

Deadlines and appeal process

The construction authorization stipulates that the works must be executed according to the submitted project and requires the holder to communicate their completion to the competent provincial body to obtain the operating authorization. The deadline for this procedure was governed by the provisions of Royal Decree-law 23/2020, of June 23, although Article 25 of Royal Decree Law 7/2026, of March 20, allows for an extension request within three months following the obtaining of the authorization, in no case exceeding December 31, 2030.

Against the resolution, which does not end the administrative route, an administrative appeal (recurso de alzada) may be filed before the holder of the Secretary of State for Energy within a period of one month from the day following its publication in the Official State Gazette.

The authorization arrives at a moment of strong pressure on the Galician electrical grid and after Red Eléctrica de España updated, on February 2, 2024, the access and connection permits to incorporate the storage module at the position already enabled for the wind farm. For As Pontes de García Rodríguez, a municipality in the midst of a reindustrialization process following the closure of the thermal power plant, the project consolidates an energy activity that combines wind generation and storage at the same connection point, with a capacity of 37 MWh that allows for the management of surpluses and provides stability to the grid.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of A Coruña, no. 203, October 23, 2026, Central Administration, pp. 1-5 (official reference: 2026/6815).