Spain has chosen 149 projects for the EUR 512 million wind and hydro upgrade program.

Spain’s Ministry of Ecological Transition announced on Friday the selection of 149 wind farms and small hydropower plants across the nation as part of a EUR 512 million (USD 596 million) state aid initiative aimed at co-financing repowering and technological enhancements.

This is the preliminary outcome of the REPOTEN 2 renewable energy repowering program, which recently received a 75% budget increase due to high demand in the sector. The ministry noted that the selected projects have the potential to generate over EUR 3.7 billion in total investment.

The provisional list features 80 projects for wind repowering, which involve replacing and modernizing turbines, along with 69 hydroelectric plants of up to 50 MW that are slated for refurbishment.

Approximately 65% of the chosen projects incorporate hybridization with battery storage systems, totaling 2 GWh of storage capacity and 3.3 GW of additional generation capacity, according to the ministry.

This program, funded through the European Union’s Next GenerationEU recovery funds, allocates state aid via a competitive tendering process overseen by the ministry's energy efficiency agency, IDAE.

The ministry indicated that the selected projects are spread across all regions of Spain, with the exception of the Balearic Islands.

Galicia has the highest number of provisional awards, with 35 projects—25 wind and 10 hydropower—followed closely by Andalusia and Castile and Leon, each with 24 projects.

The program aims to enhance energy efficiency and grid support by replacing older equipment with modern technologies that can operate in grid-forming mode.

In general, wind projects will replace multiple smaller, older turbines with fewer, larger ones, minimizing land use and visual impact while boosting electricity generation.

The ministry noted that in earlier REPOTEN projects, each new turbine replaced approximately seven older wind turbines on average.

Hydropower modernization projects will involve upgrades to generation equipment, automation systems, and environmental mitigation strategies, including fish passages, ecological flow management, and habitat restoration.

Projects selected under this initiative are required to be completed by June 30, 2030, with a potential extension until December 31, 2030, according to the ministry.

The final list of beneficiaries may still change following a consultation and appeals process, as the current allocations are provisional.