Grid capacity is opening up in Spain just as Africa’s storage build-out hits new scale

Grid capacity is opening up in Spain just as Africa’s storage build-out hits new scale.

Two signals from opposite ends of our footprint this week: Iberia widening the pipe for more renewables, and Gulf-backed developers turning African storage pledges into commissioned megawatt-hours.

What we’re tracking today:

Spain’s government approved a Real Decreto lifting the grid investment ceiling by €17.9bn through 2030, €10.2bn of it for distribution networks. For anyone holding capacity or chasing grid access permits in Spain, that’s more headroom entering the pipeline — a direct input into deal economics on both sides of the border.

In South Africa, SolarAfrica partnered with MPower and Fledge Capital to build the 184 MW Highveld solar-plus-300 MWh-storage project in Mpumalanga, wheeling power to commercial offtakers from 2029. Private capital backing dispatchable renewables outside the Gulf and Iberia.

In Egypt, AMEA Power’s Benban complex brought a 600 MWh battery system and a new 500 kV substation into phased dispatch to the national grid — on track to be Africa’s largest combined solar-and-storage facility. A Dubai-based developer converting scale into grid-ready assets, the same corridor Persimmon underwrites.

At Persimmon Investments, that’s exactly the corridor we invest against.

Read the full brief on LinkedIn →