Spanish government launches consultation on first offshore wind auction

In its National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan, the Spanish government set out a target of installing 3 GW of offshore wind by 2030, but concern has been expressed about the slow pace of the development of offshore wind in the country.

Industry bodies have argued that the lack of a firm plan risks industrial and port investment in neighbouring countries that have already launched plans for offshore windfarms, rather than in Spain. In late 2023, Spain’s Minister for Ecological Transition Sara Aagesen Muñoz said a regulatory framework for offshore wind would be launched by that year. That framework was finally put in place in September 2024, in the form of Royal Decree 962/2024. The framework established a competitive bidding procedure for the award of contracts to build offshore windfarms, a support scheme for doing so, and set out a framework for network access and capacity reservation.

In the consultation launched on 3 February 2026, which takes the decree as its basis, the Ministry is seeking input on a range of questions, so that it can finally launch Spain’s first auction for offshore wind. The questions on which the Ministry is consulting include potential locations for wind energy areas to be included in a tender, the capacity of any windfarms built in those areas, and prerequisites and award criteria for a tender.

In keeping with a growing number of European countries, the consultation also proposes the introduction of a Contract for Difference (CfD) support scheme for energy from offshore wind. 

Importantly, the consultation also introduces the potential use of indexation in CfDs, from award date to commercial operation date, a feature of CfDs that incentivises investment, guaranteeing developers a fixed, inflation-indexed strike price for electricity, protecting them from market volatility.

As highlighted above, the consultation asks which high-potential areas identified in Spain’s Marine Spatial Plans should be selected to develop offshore wind in the country’s first competitive bidding process. It also asks whether it is desirable to select several areas that will compete with each other, and whether a single, large-capacity offshore windfarm in one area should be auctioned, or several smaller ones. The Ministry is also seeking feedback on what target capacity should be auctioned for a specific site.

Feedback is being sought on the timeframe for commissioning the offshore windfarms awarded a CfD; what the duration of the support scheme should be; and which parameters – such as the price of steel or copper – should be taken into consideration should the CfD incorporate indexation.

Responses to the consultation are being sought by 28 February 2026.