General Description

The Region of Castilla-La Mancha is located in the centre of Spain. It is a very wide Region with a geographic surface of 79.461 km2 (16 % of the National surface). It comprises five provinces: Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara y Toledo.
The Primary Sector has a great importance in the social and economic structure of the Region, with a remarkable implementation of farming and forest activities. A 53 % of the overall surface of the Region is dedicated to crop lands and a 24 % to forest lands and the productivity of the Agricultural Sector is a 42 % higher than the National average. In 1997 the contribution of the agriculture to the overall gross added value was of 12,3 % and of 4,9 % at a National level.

Moreover, the final energy consumption of the primary sector in 1997 represented a 12,2 % over the total final energy consumption.

General assessment of the potential per RES in the Region

Wind potential

The wind potential in the Region is really significant. In fact, there are currently 12 wind farms into operation with 415 MW of installed capacity and the perspectives are really high regarding this source with 2.500 MW prospected by the year 2003.

Hydro potential

Concerning the hydro potential of the Region, the Plan for the Development of Renewable Energies in Spain accomplished by the National Government assigns for the Region a target of 54 MW of installed capacity in small hydro stations by 2010. In the above mentioned Plan, the Region is in the fifth position regarding the hydro potential of the different Regions of Spain since it has an attractive potential due to the fact that it has seven hydrographic basins.

Biomass potential

Castilla-La Mancha presents a remarkable biomass potential. It is the third most important Region of Spain concerning its potential according to the Plan for the Development of Renewable Energies in Spain accomplished by the National Government. The biomass potential in the Region is focused on the following sources:

		Agricultural residues, both woody residues (olive pruning and vine) and herbaceous residues (straw and winter cereals).
		Forest residues
		Residues from agricultural and forest industries
		Energy crops (thistle and black poplar)

According to the above mentioned Plan for the Development of Renewable Energies in Spain this potential is distributed as follows:

		Energy crops: 70,53 %.
		Herbaceous agricultural residues: 18,31 %.
		Woody agricultural residues: 4,55 %.
		Forest residues: 3,33 %.
		Residues from agricultural and forest industries: 3,28 %.

Solar potential

Castilla - La Mancha is the Region with the highest solar resources of Spain except for the Coast, Andalucia, Alicante y Badajoz according to solar radiation data.

Basic electricity network infrastructure

Castilla - La Mancha produces more than a 7,6 % of the national electric energy produced while it consumes a 4 %. It implies it is a surplus-producing region. This is easy to explain since there are two nuclear power stations (9.150,5 MW), some thermal power stations as well as hydro power stations, and it is quite near to an important energy consumer centre, Madrid.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELECTRICITY ENERGY PRODUCED
IN CASTILLA - LA MANCHA 1997

Nowadays, apart from the electricity energy produced through classic systems there is a remarkable production of electricity with renewable energy sources. By the end of year 2000 the electricity generation through RES was around 1.000 million kWh/year. The highest contribution to the electricity generation with RES is clearly supplied by wind energy (71 %).

Financing Environment for RES

There is no any financial support at a Regional level at the moment for RES but for the subsidies described in the following paragraph. At a national level we can remark the following lines of action:

Financing programme for RES and Energy Efficiency Projects promoted by IDAE (National Energy Agency) together with the Instituto de Credito Oficial (National financial entity) for the year 2001.

The main characteristics of this programme are described below:

		Maximum Loan: 70 % of the investment.
		Pay back: 5, 7 or 10 years.
		Interest rate: Euribor to 6 months + 1 %.
		Financial support: Discount of 3 or 5 %.

Royal Decree 2818/1998, dated December 23rd, on the generation of electricity by facilities supplied by renewable energy resources or sources, waste and cogeneration. It establishes a system of temporary incentives for those above mentioned facilities considering that they require them in order to position themselves competitively in a free market.

Promotional policies for RES - Existing subsidies

Currently, the only regulations existing in the Region concerning renewable energy sources are the following

		Decree No 58/1999, of 18-05-1999, for the regulation wind energy exploitation, through wind energy farms, in the Autonomous Community of Castilla - La Mancha. It establishes the rules for wind energy exploitation on the basis of criteria such as energy efficiency, improvement of electricity supply substructures, economic development and administrative coordination.
		Order of 23-01-2001, of the Regional Ministry on Industry, governing the rules for the granting of subsidies for the exploitation of renewable energy sources.

It establishes the rules for the granting of subsidies addressed to promote projects regarding the exploitation of solar energy (thermal and photovoltaic) and biomass in the Region of Castilla - La Mancha. The amount of the subsidy depends on the installation. Anyway it can’t never be more than 40 % of the eligible costs, with a maximum of 18.030 € per subsidy.

Existing RES installations or planned installations

By the end of year 2000 the existing RES installations in the Region for electricity energy production were distributed as follows:

		More than 298 MW of installed capacity through wind farms. Currently, there are 415 MW into operation, 164 MW under construction and 1.685 MW already licensed
		94,9 MW of small hydro stations
		1.218 kWp of photovoltaic solar installations. It is important to remark that 1 MWp corresponds to the photovoltaic solar plant of the province of Toledo, which is connected to the grid
		No biomass power stations into operation but 2 stations with 11 MW of installed capacity under construction