Masdar and Endesa Begin Three Spanish Battery Storage Projects
The three projects, the first storage builds under the companies' 2024 partnership, carry a combined investment of $28.3 million and are due to run by the end of 2027.
Masdar and Endesa have started construction on three battery energy storage projects in Spain, the first storage developments to emerge from the partnership the two companies formed in 2024. The combined investment is $28.3 million, or €25.2 million. The start of work was announced on Thursday.
The facilities sit in Extremadura and Andalusia and will attach to solar plants already in operation. Together they add 60.16 MW of capacity and 120.34 MWh of storage, with operations expected by the end of 2027.
Ardila, integrated with solar plants at Fregenal de la Sierra in Badajoz, carries the largest share: 36.10 MW and 72.20 MWh across 12 battery containers. La Vega I and La Vega II, both at solar plants in Teba, Málaga, will each deliver 12.03 MW and 24.07 MWh from four containers apiece.
All three will use lithium iron phosphate batteries and grid-forming inverters. The equipment responds almost instantly to changes in grid conditions and can supply synthetic inertia, a stabilising function that matters more as renewable generation grows.
Construction is expected to create 50 jobs. The partners intend to draw on European components and services, including inverters, auxiliary systems, communications and integration work.
The batteries store electricity produced by the adjacent solar plants. The aim is to let more renewable power reach the grid and improve system flexibility.
Research and technical validation will involve CIRCE and the Institute for Research in Technology at Comillas Pontifical University, including on-site testing of grid-forming operations. At Ardila, the partners will work with Fregenal de la Sierra Town Council to identify local improvement projects, with part of that budget allocated to training.
A solar plant that can shift its output into the evening is worth more to the network than one that cannot. Grid-forming inverters let a battery behave less like a passive reserve and more like the spinning generators that hold frequency steady, which is why the hardware choice here reaches past the megawatt figures.
Masdar, based in Abu Dhabi, has 4.1 GW of operational capacity across the Iberian Peninsula and around 1 GW under development there. It is aiming for 100 GW globally by 2030. Chief executive Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi placed first on a 2026 ranking of sustainability leaders.
