On September 17, 2026, Order TED/966/2026, of September 15, establishing a capacity market in the Spanish peninsular electricity system (the “Order”), was published in the Official Gazette of the Spanish State (BOE No. 230). The Order entered into force on the day following its publication.
The Order marks the culmination of a regulatory process that began several years ago. As early as April 2021, the then Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge launched a public consultation on an initial draft ministerial order establishing a capacity mechanism. Following a review of the comments received and an update of the technical analyses, a second public consultation was opened in December 2024 on a substantially revised text (the “Draft Order” or the “Draft”). The Draft was examined in our Legal Flash on the Draft Order (in Spanish), which analyzed the key features of the proposed mechanism.
The final Order preserves the essential structure and underlying rationale of the Draft, establishing a market-based mechanism built around centralized auctions of reliability options to ensure long-term security of supply. However, the published version introduces a number of significant changes and clarifications, which are discussed throughout this document. These include updated reliability parameters, the inclusion of new categories of participants, the introduction of a detailed verification and penalty regime, and a comprehensive framework governing the financing of the service.
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