The Valencian Community already has a specific procedure for processing energy storage installations. However, the Administration's ability to implement the new regulations will be crucial to ensuring that the simplification is not merely a paperwork process .
This is the warning issued by Pedro Fresco, general manager of the Valencian Association of Energy Sector Companies (AVAESEN), in dialogue with Energía Estratégica.
The organization welcomed Law 3/2026, which modifies the framework applicable to renewable energy, electricity, and storage facilities. Until now, the regional processing of Energy Saving and Storage (ESS) projects operated in an ambiguous manner, lacking a sufficiently defined administrative process.
The new regulation clarifies which procedure applies to each project and opens avenues to reduce red tape.
However, for AVAESEN, the main bottleneck continues to be the lack of staff in the General Directorate of Energy and in the other bodies involved in the files .
“In addition to drafting a law, mechanisms and human resources are needed to ensure that cases are processed quickly,” Fresco points out.
The experience with photovoltaic plants serves as a precedent. The regional procedure was designed to complete its authorization in approximately ten months, but the deadline is not being met.
“The parks are not being processed in ten months or a year. They are taking several years,” says the general manager of AVAESEN.
The association has repeatedly called on the Catalan government to strengthen the teams responsible for analyzing documentation, coordinating reports, and issuing permits. According to Fresco, the problem lies not necessarily in the technical complexity of the procedure, but in the availability of civil servants to handle the workload.
“You can have a very good law, but if no one can work on the projects, they are frozen and the deadlines are not met,” he warns.
A differentiated procedure for BESS
Law 3/2026 establishes for the first time a clear division according to the power and configuration of the installations.
Stand-alone electrochemical storage systems with a capacity equal to or greater than 10 MW must follow the procedures established for photovoltaic power plants in Decree-Law 14/2020. Projects below that threshold will be processed using the general procedure of Decree 88/2005.
In both cases, the installation of the batteries is exempt from processing a Declaration of Community Interest , one of the relevant changes to reduce urban planning and territorial burdens.
The regulation also incorporates into the regional sphere energy storage facilities of any technology, whether stand-alone or hybrid, with a capacity not exceeding 50 MW. In this way, the text establishes the distribution of powers and defines the process that developers must follow.
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Another new feature is the possibility of resolving the prior administrative and construction authorizations for certain projects in the second group within a maximum period of one month .
This abbreviated lane will be available when the facility does not request a declaration of public utility, is not subject to environmental assessment, and presents a documentary certification issued by an accredited collaborating entity.
The certification will allow the documentation provided to be considered complete and adequate, without preventing the Administration from subsequently exercising its functions of verification, correction and inspection.
Measures are also established to coordinate the reports of the agencies involved.
The conditions must be submitted simultaneously to the relevant authority so that the developer can incorporate them into a single project amendment. The report on land-use planning and landscape must be issued within 30 days.
According to AVAESEN, these tools can expedite processes, but their effectiveness will depend on sufficient administrative capacity to utilize them. Simply reducing processing times does not guarantee that decisions will be made within the expected timeframe.
Article 21 bis, under the microscope of AVAESEN
AVAESEN's main objection focuses on the wording of the new article 21 bis of Decree-Law 14/2020 , which regulates the simplification of procedures for incorporating electrochemical storage into renewable installations.
The provision stipulates that a hybrid battery will be exempt from a new environmental assessment when installed within the perimeter of a plant that already has authorization and a favorable assessment. In that case, the storage will be considered a modification of the generation facility.
The developer will not need to request a new prior administrative authorization, although they will have to modify the existing building permit . Furthermore, consultations should be limited to new impacts resulting from the installation of the batteries.
The aim is to prevent the project from having to repeat reports and assessments already passed during the renewable energy plant's authorization process . However, Fresco believes that Article 21 bis does not adequately protect this principle and leaves room for different administrative interpretations.
“The idea behind the law is to introduce batteries within a photovoltaic park that has already been environmentally assessed and for which reports have already been prepared. Let's not redo the procedure or duplicate everything again,” he argues.
AVAESEN proposes to make a specific correction that clarifies that new reports can only be requested when storage generates additional effects that were not analyzed in the original file.
“There is no need to ask for things that have already been requested, unless there is some new aspect that clearly needs to be addressed,” Fresco concludes.
The association does not question the purpose of the reform, but rather its wording. A restrictive interpretation of Article 21 bis could perpetuate the duplication of procedures that Law 3/2026 itself seeks to eliminate.