Greenway of the European Commission for the aid plan in Spain for the production of batteries for electric and connected vehicles. Brussels has approved this plan, which consists of aid in the form of direct grants and loanswhich have the objective of promoting the transition to a zero-emission economy.
These aids, valued at €837 millionare part of the total of 1,415 million euros of which the second call for the PERTE of the electric vehicle in Spainwhich launches next June.
The beneficiaries of these aids will be the companies producing batteries, their essential components and related raw materials. Investments in the field of batteries will receive a maximum aid of between 100 and 300 million euros, depending on whether it is carried out in an assisted area or not; a maximum of 100 million for investments in essential components and a maximum of 25 million euros for investments in raw materials.
«The establishment of this Spanish aid plan constitutes an important step in the transition to a net zero emissions economywhile protecting a level playing field in the single market in line with cohesion objectives,” said Commission Vice-President and Head of Competition in Brussels, Margrethe Vestager.
A more than necessary for Spain
It’s a plan”necessary, appropriate and proportionate to accelerate the energy transition”, assures the European Commission, and to adjust to the conditions established in the Crisis and Transition Time Frameadopted in March 2022 and subsequently revised to take measures to support the economy after the war unleashed in Ukraine.
This same Framework, which is part of the Industrial Plan of the Green Pact of the European Union to define the production of “clean” industries, mark as Deadline for these grants is December 31, 2025.
We will see how this second call for PERTE works in Spain, since the first one was a failureby being awarded “only” 800 million euros of a total allocated to aid of 3,000 million euros.
These amounts come from the NextGeneration recovery funds of the European Union and have two lines: the battery ecosystem (the one just approved by the European Commission) and individual projects with an impact on different links in the value chain.
Projects like the Volkswagen battery gigafactory in Sagunto (Valencia) could be one of the projects that can easily receive these aids. The Valencian plant is expected to be operational by the year 2026.
