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Royal Decree in English





This decree specifies the general legal framework and recent changes in law, explaining why it is profitable to invest in solar engergy at this moment and for a long time to come. I translated it with deepl.com. It's pretty good quality, is it not? Here they lay out the recent changes in the overall laws for the Spanish electricity market. For the bulltetin with the laws concerning self-consumption please click here.

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I


Article 33 of the Electricity Sector Act 24/2013, of 26 December, regulates access and connection to grids in general terms, defining the concepts of access right, connection right, access permit and connection permit. Thus, the right of access is understood as the right to use the network under legally or regulatory conditions, and the right of connection to a point on the network is understood as the right of a subject to connect electrically to a specific point on the network under specific conditions.

Although several years have passed since its enactment, the regulatory development of the aforementioned article 33 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, had not yet taken place. This means, in accordance with the eleventh transitory provision of the aforementioned Law 24/013, of 26 December, that, until the approval of this Royal Decree, article 33 relating to access and connection was not applicable.

This situation means that the transitional regime set out in the seventh, eighth and eleventh transitional provisions of the aforementioned Law 24/2013, of 26 December, continues to apply. These transitional provisions, applied jointly, determine that while article 33 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, is being developed, access and connection are governed by the previous Electricity Sector Law 54/1997, of 27 November, and its implementing regulations approved by the Government. These rules provided for an indefinite duration of the permits, as opposed to the five years established in general terms by section eight of article 33 of Law 24/2013 of 26 December.

Royal Decree-Law 1/2019 of 11 January 2019 on urgent measures to adapt the competences of the National Markets and Competition Commission to the requirements of European Union law, in relation to Directives 2009/72/EC and 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and natural gas, has carried out a reorganisation of powers in relation to access and connection to electricity grids in such a way that the Government is responsible for approving, by Royal Decree of the Council of Ministers, the criteria and procedures that the granting of access and connection must satisfy in order to comply with energy policy objectives and the penetration of renewables; the criteria under which a subject may request network owners and operators to modify the conditions of access and connection permits, including their connection points, and the objective criteria for the inclusion of limits on connection capacity by node in order to guarantee security of supply.

For its part, in accordance with the distribution of powers approved by the aforementioned Royal Decree-Law 1/2019 of 11 January, the National Commission for Markets and Competition will approve, by circular, the methodology and conditions for access and connection, which will include: the content of applications and permits, economic criteria, criteria for capacity assessment, reasons for refusal, minimum content of contracts and the obligation of publicity and transparency of information relevant to access and connection.

In this regard, it is worth highlighting what was stated by the Council of State in its Opinion of 18 June 2020, regarding the first draft access circular, when it stated that "In conclusion, in accordance with the current legal system, the approval of a general regulatory framework for the procedure for granting access and connection permits is the responsibility of the Government. The regulation established by the Government will be limited by respect for the CNMC's competence to regulate the aspects expressly mentioned in the corresponding legal authorisation".

Royal Decree-Law 15/2018, of 5 October, on urgent measures for the energy transition and consumer protection, included in its third additional provision various measures to combat speculation in access and connection rights in production facilities and to increase the firmness required of projects. Among these measures, this additional provision introduced the obligation for holders of access and connection permits to advance part of the investment costs of those connection infrastructures that they must bear, but which must be carried out by the grid operator, as well as the obligation to sign, within a given period, a project commissioning contract containing the additional payments to the amounts advanced.

It is also established that, in general, the criterion for granting permits will be that of time priority, although, in order to promote the penetration of renewable energies, an exception to this is regulated in cases of hybridisation of existing generation facilities and access capacity tenders in new nodes of the transmission grid or in those nodes where power capacity is released or comes to the surface.

The procedure established by this Royal Decree is a single procedure for obtaining permits for access and connection to the electricity transmission and distribution grids, in which the grid operator acts as the contact point for the applicant throughout the procedure, regardless of whether or not the grid operator is the owner of the grid where the connection is requested. However, a transitional exception is envisaged for those installations which, on the entry into force of this Royal Decree, do not have a connection permit, but for which their owner has already requested or obtained an access permit from the grid operator, in which case the connection permit will be processed with the owner of the grid where the access permit has been requested or obtained.

The single procedure regulated by this Royal Decree has specific deadlines, both for applicants and for network owners and operators, which depend on the voltage level of the grid point for which access and connection is requested. In order to speed up the procedure for obtaining permits in the case of small consumers and generators, a simplified procedure is envisaged in which the time taken is reduced by half.
In accordance with the second additional provision of Royal Decree-Law 15/2018, of 5 October, this Royal Decree exempts certain electricity generation facilities linked to self-consumption from obtaining access and connection permits. In addition, it extends this exemption to consumers to whom article 25.1 of Royal Decree 1048/2013, of 27 December, which establishes the methodology for calculating the remuneration of the electricity distribution activity, is applicable.

This Royal Decree regulates the causes for the rejection of access and connection requests, which are limited to the failure to submit the necessary information to process the request, the failure to accredit that the necessary financial guarantees have been provided in the case of electricity generation facilities and that, according to the public information displayed on the platforms to be provided by grid operators, there is no capacity. Likewise, in relation to the refusal of access and connection requests, the royal decree states that the causes may only be those established by the National Commission for Markets and Competition in the exercise of the powers attributed to it by Law 24/2013, of 26 December, and establishes that, in all cases, the refusal will be communicated to the applicant in a reasoned manner.

Furthermore, this Royal Decree regulates the obligation of the installation's owner to sign a technical access contract with the owner of the grid to which it is connected, which will govern the technical relations between the two. In the case of consumers, in addition to the aforementioned contract, the access contract must be formalised with the corresponding distributor which, in the case of connection to the distribution grid, may be signed together with the technical access contract.


III


Chapter I sets out the purpose and scope of the regulation, as well as the definitions of application for the purposes set out in the regulation.

Chapter II regulates the general aspects of the procedure for obtaining access and connection permits. Specifically, this chapter specifies the obligation to obtain permits, the general criteria for the processing procedure, the general criteria for granting permits, the grounds for rejection of applications and the grounds for refusal of permits.

Chapter III details the general procedure for the granting of access and connection permits with regard to their initiation, assessment of the application, preparation of the preliminary proposal and deadlines for its submission, acceptance by the applicant and issuing of the permits.

Chapter IV regulates the aspects relating to the abbreviated procedure for obtaining access and connection permits, such as the conditions thereof and the cases in which it may be applied, as well as the specific cases that will be exempt from obtaining access and connection permits. Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of 23 June, established the possibility of carrying out hybridisation projects for existing generation facilities using the same connection point and access capacity already granted. As stated in its preamble, this measure will contribute to the rapid and efficient development of a large number of renewable projects, optimising the grid already built and minimising the cost for consumers.

In line with the above, Chapter VIII of this Royal Decree regulates the procedure for the application and processing of access and connection conditions for the hybridisation of electricity generation facilities, and for the updating, where applicable, of permits already granted. It also establishes, where applicable, the requirements necessary to discriminate the energy generated that could be eligible for the specific remuneration system and the requirements to be met by new electricity generation modules to be incorporated into the existing installation.


V


Royal Decree 413/2014, of 6 June, which regulates the activity of electricity production from renewable energy sources, cogeneration and waste, in its wording prior to the entry into force of this Royal Decree, included the obligation to designate a single node interlocutor to represent generators wishing to access the transmission grid before the manager and owner of said grid.

This Royal Decree eliminates this obligation so that it is the applicant who, by means of the single procedure established therein, directly contacts the transmission grid operator.

However, given that at the entry into force of this Royal Decree there may be applications pending resolution that have been submitted through a single node interlocutor, this Royal Decree provides for a transitional period so that, in such cases, the single node interlocutors continue to exercise the function provided for them in Royal Decree 413/2014, of 6 June, on a transitional basis until the completion of the access and connection procedure.


VI


In order to promote a fair transition process, the twenty-second additional provision of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, includes the possibility of regulating procedures and establishing requirements for granting all or part of the access capacity in the nodes affected by the closure of coal or thermonuclear thermal power facilities to new generation facilities using renewable energy sources in which, in addition to the technical and economic requirements, environmental and social benefits are weighed up.

To this end, Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of 23 June, has empowered the Directorate-General for Energy Policy and Mines to request the system operator to calculate the individualised access capacity for a series of just transition nodes, which are listed in its annex.

Given that the granting of new access capacity in these nodes may compromise the capacity that is finally available to be granted, by virtue of the aforementioned additional provision twenty-two of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, thereby compromising the objectives of just transition, this royal decree establishes that, on a transitional basis, the transmission system operator may not accept applications for the granting of access capacity in the nodes referred to in the Annex to Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of 23 June, until the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge regulates and resolves the procedures referred to in the aforementioned additional twenty-second provision of Law 24/2013, of 26 December.


VII


The eleventh transitory provision of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, establishes that the provisions of article 33 of said law will be applicable once the Royal Decree approving the criteria for granting access and connection permits comes into force.

By virtue of the foregoing, the first final provision establishes that, with the entry into force thereof, the provisions of article 33 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, and its implementing regulations, will be fully applicable.


VIII


The connection to the grid of a high quota of generation from renewable sources in a manner that is efficient for the system requires that, on numerous occasions, installations from different owners must share the same evacuation infrastructure. However, the fact that the ownership of these infrastructures is not shared can be an obstacle to their use by third parties who have also been granted access and connection rights at the same point. The third final provision amends Royal Decree 413/2014, of 6 June, which regulates the activity of electricity production from renewable energy sources, cogeneration and waste, in order to specify the application of the specific remuneration scheme to hybrid facilities. More specifically, a new type of hybrid installations is established to accommodate the renewable hybridisation of an installation that is already entitled to receive the specific remuneration scheme, as well as its remuneration mechanism.

Likewise, the definition of installed power applicable in the case of photovoltaic technology installations is modified so that it is the lower of the sum of the maximum unit power of the photovoltaic modules that make up the installation and the maximum power of the inverter or inverters that make up the installation. In order to prevent this modification from affecting authorisation procedures for installations that had been initiated prior to the date of entry into force of the Royal Decree, it is envisaged that, on a transitional basis, the processing of such procedures and registration in the administrative registry of electricity production installations will be carried out in accordance with the definition of installed power in force up to that date.


X


The first transitional provision of Royal Decree 647/2020, of 7 July, which regulates aspects necessary for the implementation of the grid codes for the connection of certain electricity facilities, establishes that, for a period of twenty-four months, grid operators may issue limited operational notifications allowing the registration in the corresponding administrative registers of electricity generation facilities included within the scope of application of Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/631 of 14 April 2016, which establishes a grid code on requirements for the connection of generators to the grid. This transitional provision grants a necessary period of time for the accreditation of those entities that will allow assessing the conformity with the technical requirements established by the aforementioned Regulation (EU) 2016/631 of 14 April 2016 and, with this, issuing the corresponding definitive operational notification.

Although Regulation (EU) 2016/631, of 14 April 2016, is not applicable to generation facilities located in the electricity systems of non-peninsular territories, Royal Decree 647/2020, of 7 July, extends the scope of application of the operational notification procedure to them, although, in this case, the procedure is linked to compliance with the specific requirements applicable to these facilities.

Taking into account that the definition of some of these specific requirements is linked to those deriving from the application of Regulation (EU) 2016/631 of 14 April 2016, the fifth final provision of this royal decree amends the first transitory provision of Royal Decree 647/2020 of 7 July to extend the possibility of issuing limited operational notifications to the case of electricity generation facilities located in the electricity systems of non-peninsular territories. This will allow the definitive registration of these facilities in the corresponding administrative registers until the necessary documentation can be provided to accredit compliance with the technical requirements applicable to them.


XI


The eighth final provision of Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of 23 June, states that "the Government and the National Markets and Competition Commission shall approve, within a maximum period of three months from the entry into force of this Royal Decree-Law, as many regulatory provisions as may be necessary for the development and execution within the scope of their competences of the provisions of article 33 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December.

In accordance with the above, on 7 July 2020, the Council of Ministers approved the Council of Ministers Agreement authorising the urgent administrative processing provided for in article 27.1.b) of Law 50/1997, of 27 November, of the Government, of the draft Royal Decree regulating the procedure and general criteria for access and connection to the electricity transmission and distribution networks.


XII


This regulation has been drafted taking into account the principles of good regulation referred to in article 129.1 of Law 39/2015, of 1 October, on the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations.

In particular, it complies with the principles of necessity and effectiveness, as its approval is provided for in Law 24/2013, of 26 December, which establishes that the specific aspects of access and connection to the networks identified in the object of this regulation must be approved by Royal Decree of the Government, the approval of this Royal Decree being a necessary condition for the entry into force of article 33 of the aforementioned law.

It also complies with the principle of proportionality by carrying out the regulatory development of the aspects attributed to the Government in terms of access and connection, by virtue of article 33 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December.

It is also understood that the principle of legal certainty is satisfied given that the regulation is consistent with the rest of the legal system and with EU law. In addition, the approval of this royal decree will allow the applicability of article 33 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, and, with this, the full application of the regulatory framework on access and connection approved by the aforementioned law, instead of the transitional framework that is currently being applied.

The regulation complies with the principle of transparency insofar as the project has been submitted to a public hearing and the objectives pursued are described in the preamble and in the report.

Finally, the principle of efficiency is satisfied to the extent that it does not introduce unnecessary or ancillary administrative burdens.

In accordance with Article 26.6 of the aforementioned Law 50/1997, of 27 November, this Royal Decree has been submitted to public information and a hearing process through its publication on the website of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. In addition, the hearing process has also been carried out through consultation with the representatives of the Electricity Advisory Council of the National Commission for Markets and Competition, in accordance with the provisions of the tenth transitory provision of Law 3/2013, of 4 June, on the creation of the National Commission for Markets and Competition. The Autonomous Communities and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla have participated in the hearing process through said Electricity Advisory Council, in which they are represented.

As established in article 5.2.a) of Law 3/2013, of 4 June, the provisions of this Royal Decree have been informed by the National Commission for Markets and Competition in its report "Agreement issuing a report on the draft Royal Decree on access and connection to electricity transmission and distribution networks" (IPN/CNMC/022/20), which was approved by the Council in plenary session on 2 September 2020.

This Royal Decree is issued under the provisions of Article 149.1.13 and 25 of the Spanish Constitution, which grants the State exclusive competence to determine the bases and coordination of the general planning of economic activity, and the bases of the mining and energy regime, respectively.

By virtue thereof, at the proposal of the Fourth Vice-President of the Government and Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, with the prior approval of the Minister for Territorial Policy and Public Function, in agreement with the Council of State, and following deliberation by the Council of Ministers at its meeting of 29 December 2020,


PROVIDED:


CHAPTER I

General Provisions

Article 1. Purpose.

The purpose of this Royal Decree is to establish the criteria and procedure for the application for and obtaining of permits for access and connection to a grid point, by producers, transporters, distributors, consumers and owners of storage facilities, in accordance with the provisions of article 33 of the Electricity Sector Act 24/2013, of 26 December.

Article 2. Definitions.

For the purposes of this Royal Decree, the following definitions shall apply:

a) Right of access: the right to use the grid under legally or regulatory determined conditions.

b) Right to connect to a point on the grid: the right of a party to connect electrically to a specific point on the existing or planned transmission grid on a binding basis or on the existing distribution grid or included in the investment plans approved by the General State Administration under specified conditions.

c) Access permit: that which is granted for the use of the grid to which an installation for electricity production, storage for subsequent injection into the grid, consumption, distribution or transmission is connected. The access permit shall be issued by the grid system operator.

e) Node: electrical point where three or more electrical lines or transformers with the same voltage level meet. An electrical node is also considered to be that point where, after opening the circuit to connect a new subject, three or more electrical lines or transformers finally converge.

(f) 'position' means each of the points allowing the physical connection of power lines, transformers or active or reactive power control elements at a node, equipped with the corresponding cut-off and protection elements.

(g) "upstream network owner" means a network owner who connects to the network of another network owner by means of elements which are located at higher or equal voltage levels, provided that the said element is located upstream of the usual direction of current flow. For this purpose, the usual direction of current shall be understood as the direction which allows power to be supplied to lower voltage consumers from higher or equal voltage levels.

(h) "upstream system operator" means a system operator which is connected to the system of another system operator by means of elements which are located at higher or equal voltage levels, provided that the element is located upstream of the normal flow of electric current. For this purpose, the usual direction of current shall be understood to be that which allows power to be supplied to lower voltage consumers from higher or equal voltage levels.

i) Electricity generation installation: an installation consisting of one or more electricity generation modules and, where appropriate, one or more energy storage installations that inject energy into the grid, all of which are connected to a point on the grid through the same position.

j) Electricity generation module: a synchronous electricity generation module or an electricity park module in accordance with the provisions of Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/631 of 14 April 2016 establishing a grid code on grid connection requirements for generators, and with the regulations approved for the development and implementation thereof.

k) Access capacity: shall be the maximum active power that may be injected into the grid by an electricity generation installation or absorbed from the grid by a demand installation in accordance with what is stated in the access permit and in the technical access contract.

(l) "grid connection" means a procedure to physically connect electricity generation, distribution, transmission, storage or consumption facilities to a point in the transmission or, where applicable, distribution grid, where the operator of such facilities has been granted an access and connection permit. Once these activities have been completed, the installations shall be ready to be energised or connected once all the permits and authorisations required by law have been obtained.

m) Installed capacity of a generation facility: that defined in article 3 and, where applicable, in the eleventh additional provision of Royal Decree 413/2014, of 6 June, which regulates the activity of electricity production from renewable energy sources, cogeneration and waste.

n) Installed power of a consumption installation: shall be the maximum expected power that has been considered in the design of the consumption installation and that must be stated in the corresponding electrical installation certificate (CIE).

Article 3. Scope of application.

1. This Royal Decree shall be applicable to the parties involved in the application for and granting of permits for access and connection to the electricity transmission and distribution networks, which shall be:

a) Applicants for permits for access and connection to a point on the electricity transmission or, where appropriate, distribution grid, which shall be: developers and owners of electricity generation facilities, distribution facilities, transmission facilities, storage facilities, and consumers.
br b) The owners of electricity distribution or transmission networks.

c) The system operator and transmission system operator and the distribution system operators.

2. This Royal Decree shall not apply to storage facilities in the electricity systems of non-mainland territories owned by the system operator, in accordance with the provisions of Law 17/2013, of 29 October, to guarantee supply and increase competition in island and non-mainland electricity systems.

Likewise, it shall not apply to storage facilities when they are fully integrated components of the transmission grid, in application of the provisions of Directive (EU) 2019/944 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and amending Directive 2012/27/EU, nor when they never inject energy into the transmission or distribution networks.

Similarly, it shall not apply to cases in which a system operator must access networks that it owns.


CHAPTER II


General aspects of the procedure for access and connection to the system Article 4.
Obligation to obtain permission for access and connection to a point on the system.

1. The parties referred to in paragraph a) of section 1 of article 3 who wish to connect their new facilities to the transmission or distribution network shall first obtain network access and connection permits.

2. The provisions of the previous paragraph shall be understood to be without prejudice to any exemptions that may be applicable, in accordance with the provisions of Article 17 of this Royal Decree.

Article 5.
General criteria for processing access and connection permits. 1. In order to obtain access and connection permits, an application for access and connection to the transmission or distribution system, as applicable in each case, shall be submitted to the relevant system operator.

2. The processing of applications for access and connection permits shall be carried out jointly in a single procedure. In this procedure, the system operator for which the permits are being applied for shall act as a single point of contact for the applicant or the natural or legal person representing the applicant.

3. Transmission and distribution system operators shall have dedicated web-based platforms for managing access and connection applications, processing and reporting on the status of applications, on which applicants may consult the status of the processing of their applications.

4. Likewise, the platforms referred to in the preceding section shall make it possible to find out the existing access capacity at each node, in accordance with the criteria established in its circular by the National Markets and Competition Commission.

5. For the purposes of processing access and connection procedures, the following shall be taken into account:

(a) Applications and any possible corrections thereto, communications by the system operator, in its capacity as the single point of contact, and, in general, any step in the processing that requires communication or notification by the applicant or the system operator, must be made by electronic means. This shall not apply when the applicants are natural persons, in which case other means of communication or notification may be used provided that they allow a record to be kept of the submission and of the date on which it took place.

(b) electronic means must be made available to ensure the traceability of communications and notifications made by applicants and network operators and to obtain receipts from applicants for access and connection permits stating the date and time of submission.

(c) electronic means must be made available to provide a reliable record of the communications and notifications made by system operators.

Article 6.
General criteria for the procedure for obtaining access and connection permits. 1. The procedure for obtaining access and connection permits shall generally comply with the provisions of Chapter III.

2. Applications for access and connection permits for electricity generation installations shall be made for that installation, i.e. for the set of electricity generation and/or storage modules forming part of that installation, in accordance with the provisions of Article 2.

3. For the purposes of the provisions of this Royal Decree, applications for access and connection to the transmission or distribution grid of storage facilities that may discharge energy into the transmission and distribution grids shall be considered as applications for access to electricity generation facilities.

The foregoing shall be understood to be without prejudice to the technical access criteria that must be taken into account for this type of facility, as a result of its status as a facility that, at certain times, behaves as a demand facility.

4. The initiation of a procedure for access and connection to the electricity grid, in the case of electricity generation facilities, shall be conditional on the presentation to the body responsible for granting authorisation for the facility of a copy of the receipt accrediting that the financial guarantee referred to in Article 23 of this Royal Decree has been deposited, and that this guarantee has been properly constituted, in accordance with the provisions of the aforementioned article. The form of accreditation of the adequate constitution of the guarantee shall be that indicated in Article 23.

5. In any case, the initiation of a procedure for obtaining access and connection permits shall be conditional upon the installation's owner paying the amounts for access and connection studies established by the respective ministerial orders referred to in article 27 of Royal Decree 1047/2013, of 27 December, which establishes the methodology for calculating the remuneration of the electricity transmission activity, and article 30 of Royal Decree 1048/2013, of 27 December, as applicable in each case.

6. Applications for access and connection permits may only be made:

a) In the case of the transmission grid, on existing substations or substations included in the transmission grid development plan in force, and, within these, on existing or planned positions. For these purposes, positions additional to those expressly included in the transmission grid planning that may be considered planned shall be taken into account, in accordance with the criteria and requirements that, for these purposes, are defined in the royal decree that, where appropriate, is approved in accordance with the provisions of section three of the first transitory provision of Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of 23 June.

b) In the case of the distribution network, on existing installations or those included in the investment plans of the distribution companies approved by the General State Administration.

7. In the case of cogeneration or self-consumption in which electricity generation facilities share connection infrastructures with a consumer, and in which the applicant for access and connection permits is different from the holder of the supply contract, it shall be an essential condition for the initiation of an access and connection procedure that the application be accompanied by an agreement signed by both parties stating that the holder of the supply contract agrees to the application.

8. In accordance with the provisions of section 12 of article 33 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, applications may be made for access permits for hybrid facilities that incorporate several technologies provided that at least one of them uses a renewable primary energy source or incorporates storage facilities.

Article 7. General criteria for ordering the granting of access and connection permits.

1. The general criterion for the ordering of access and connection permits shall be time priority, except in the cases provided for in article 18 and article 27 of this Royal Decree.

2. For the purposes of determining priority in time, the date to be taken into account shall be the date on which the application is accepted for processing, which shall be the date and time of submission of the application for the granting of the access and connection permit to the relevant system operator.

In the event that the application requires correction, the date on which the application is accepted for processing, and therefore the date to be taken into account for the purposes of time priority, shall be the date and time on which all the required documentation and information has been correctly submitted. For this purpose, the Network Manager shall respect the order of entry of the requests for remedy in the requests for remedy.

3. In the case of electricity generation facilities, if applying the aforementioned criteria, the date and time of admission of two applications is the same, the time priority shall be established on the basis of how long ago a copy of the receipt certifying that the financial guarantees referred to in Article 23 have been properly deposited has been sent to the administration responsible for authorising the facility.

In the event that the same joint application groups together several electricity generation facilities at the same node, the date of application for the purposes of the priority of the joint application shall be the latest of the dates of the receipts accrediting the facilities to which the application refers.

Article 8. Inadmissibility of applications.

1. Applications for access and connection permits may only be rejected by the system operator for the following reasons:

a) Failure to provide proof that a copy of the receipt accrediting the deposit of the financial guarantee referred to in article 23 has been submitted to the body responsible for granting authorisation for the facility, and that the body responsible for authorising the facility has ruled that said guarantee has been adequately constituted, in accordance with the provisions of said article.

b) That the granting of access at said node is regulated in a specific procedure approved by the Government under Chapter V of this Royal Decree or the twenty-second additional provision of Law 24/2013, of 26 December.

c) Failure to provide or correct the information required under the terms and within the deadlines established in this Royal Decree and with the content established by the National Commission for Markets and Competition in accordance with the provisions of section 11 of Article 33 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December.

d) That it is submitted in hubs in which the existing grantable access capacity is null, in accordance with the information stated in the platforms referred to in Article 5.3 of this Royal Decree. Applications for the hybridisation of an electricity generation facility in accordance with the provisions of article 27 of this royal decree may not be rejected for this reason. In the case of rejections due to a lack of access capacity to be granted for generation, grid system operators shall send the address of their web portals showing the existing capacity of the grids under their management.

2. The system operator shall notify the applicant for access and connection permission of the non-acceptance of an application. The notification shall state the specific reason, from among those set out in the previous paragraph, why the application is inadmissible.

3. The rejection of an application for access and connection shall entail, where appropriate, the recovery of the financial guarantees provided. The guarantees shall be returned within a maximum period of three months after the owner of the installation submits a copy of the notification of rejection of the application to the body responsible for granting authorisation for the installation and requests the return of the guarantee lodged.

In the case of applications rejected by virtue of the provisions of paragraph d) of section one of this article, only 80% of the total guarantee submitted shall be returned, with the result that the remaining part shall be forfeited. The applicant may recover the full amount of the security lodged if, together with the application for its return, he can prove that on the day the security is lodged, the web platform of the corresponding network manager at 8 a.m. shows the existence of capacity available at that node that is not reserved for the tenders provided for in Article 18.
Article 9. Refusal of access and connection permits.

1. The grounds for refusal of access and connection permits shall be those established by the National Markets and Competition Commission in accordance with the provisions of the aforementioned section 11 of article 33 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December.

2. In any case, the refusal of the access and connection permit shall be reasoned and shall be notified to the applicant in the assessments of the application. In the case of refusals due to lack of access capacity for generation, network operators shall send the address of their web portals where the existing capacity of the networks under their management is shown.

3. The rejection of an application for access and connection for reasons not directly or indirectly attributable to the applicant shall entail the recovery of the financial guarantees provided within a maximum period of three months from the date on which the owner of the installation submits a copy of the rejection of the access permit to the body responsible for authorising the installation.


CHAPTER III


General procedure for obtaining access and connection permits.

Article 10. Initiation of the procedure.

1. The parties referred to in paragraph a) of section 1 of article 2 that are obliged to obtain an access and connection permit, in accordance with the provisions of article 4 of this Royal Decree, shall submit an application to the operator of the network to which they wish to connect for access and connection permits. In the case of access and connection permits for generation facilities of more than 100 kW, applications must be made for a specific node or section of line in the grid.

This application must be made under the terms and with the content established by the National Markets and Competition Commission, in accordance with the provisions of article 33.11 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December.

2. The system operator shall have a maximum period of twenty days from receipt of the request to request that it be rectified, if it deems this necessary, or, where appropriate, to notify its rejection. The system owner shall make such requests for rectification through the corresponding system operator.

3. If the request for rectification of the application is not made within the period indicated in the previous section, it shall be understood that the application has been accepted for processing, unless the reason for rejection is that referred to in paragraphs a) and b) of section one of article 8.

4. The request for correction shall specify unequivocally all the deficiencies or errors found in the application. In no case shall the request for improvement require the provision of additional content not required, in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph of this Article. Likewise, it shall follow the determinations made by the National Markets and Competition Commission in accordance with the provisions of section one of this article.

The system operator may issue a maximum of two requests for correction to the same application.

5. The applicant shall have twenty days from the date of notification of the request for correction to submit the information indicated in the request. Failure to reply within this period or in the terms or to the extent stated in the request shall result in the rejection of the application.

6. Once the installation owner has responded to the requests for rectification, the system operator shall have a maximum period of twenty days to notify the acceptance or rejection of the request. If this notification does not take place within the aforementioned period, the application shall be deemed to have been accepted for processing.


Article 11. Evaluation of the request for access and connection.

1. Once the application has been accepted for processing, the system operator where access has been requested shall assess the existence of access capacity, in accordance with the criteria established for this purpose by the National Commission for Markets and Competition, in accordance with the provisions of article 33.11 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December.

For its part, the owner of the network for which the connection permit is being requested shall assess the existence or not of connection viability, at the requested point if applicable, in accordance with the criteria established by the National Markets and Competition Commission, in accordance with the provisions of article 33.11 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December.

2. When the granting of an access permit at a point of the network may affect the transmission network or, where appropriate, the upstream distribution network, the network operator of the network for which the access permit is requested shall request an acceptability report from the upstream network operator on such possible effects and the restrictions derived therefrom.

3. In order to determine whether an acceptability report from the upstream system operator is necessary, the criteria established by the National Commission for Markets and Competition shall be taken into account for the purposes of determining the influence of a network on a network other than the network for which the access permit is requested.
4. When, in accordance with the previous section, an acceptability report is required, the operator of the system where access is requested shall request said report from the operator of the upstream system within a maximum period of ten days from the date the application is accepted for processing. The deadline for the upstream system operator to submit the acceptability report to the requesting operator shall be the same as the deadline for submitting a prior proposal, in accordance with Article 13, for which the voltage at the connection point shall be taken as the voltage level at the border point between the requesting operator and the upstream system operator.

This consultation may be extended to successive upstream system operators, in the event that, according to the criteria established, access could have an influence on them, in which case the same time limits shall apply to these operators for requesting the acceptability report to the upstream system operator and for sending the corresponding report to the requesting operator.

In any event, the upstream system operator shall respect the time priority of the requests for reports received in issuing its acceptability report.

5. The upstream system operators to which consultation must be transferred, in accordance with the provisions of this article, may not require additional information to that which must be provided to initiate the request, in accordance with the provisions of the circular to be approved by the National Commission for Markets and Competition, in accordance with the provisions of article 33.11 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, unless this establishes a specific differentiation of documentation to be submitted in the event that an acceptability report is required.

6. Once the assessment has been carried out, the grid manager shall inform the applicant of the result of the analysis of its application, which may result in:

(a) Acceptance of the application, where access capacity exists, either directly or by reinforcing the existing network, and connection feasibility. In this case, the system operator shall notify the applicant of the preliminary proposal in accordance with Article 12.

b) Refusal of the application, when the reasons for refusal set out in Article 9 of this Royal Decree apply, in which case notification of this circumstance shall be given, and the access and connection procedure shall be deemed to have been completed.

7. In the case of electricity generation facilities, the grid system operator may partially accept the request when, although access capacity exists, it is less than that requested. In this case, the provisions of paragraph a) of the previous section shall apply to the partial access capacity that the system operator considers may be accepted, and the provisions of paragraph b) shall apply to the access capacity to be refused.

Article 12. Prior proposal
1. In the event that the assessment of the application concludes that access capacity exists and that connection is feasible, the system operator shall notify the applicant of its proposal. The content of this proposal shall be as determined by the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia, which shall include at least the following

(a) the proposed access capacity

(b) The technical parameters that technically characterise the connection point, including at least voltage and location.

c) The maximum design short-circuit power for the calculation of the switchgear and the minimum short-circuit power for the calculation of the permissible voltage variations at the connection point.

d) Those situations in which, in accordance with the provisions of article 33.2 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, the subject's right of access at the proposed connection point may be temporarily restricted, in particular those which, where applicable, may arise from operating conditions or grid maintenance and development needs.

(e) the technical conditions and requirements of the evacuation or incoming connection lines to the substation to which it is connected

(f) technical specifications of the work necessary to connect to the grid.

2. Additionally, in the case of electricity generation facilities, the documentation referred to in the previous section shall be accompanied by information on other electricity generation facilities with access granted at the same node or position, when the prior agreement with the owners of these facilities for the shared use of evacuation facilities may condition access to the grid.

3. With the exception of the deadlines, which shall be governed by article 13, the technical connection specifications to be drawn up by the system operator, in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph, shall comply with the following, as applicable in each case:

(a) In the case of consumers, to the provisions of Chapters VI and VII of Royal Decree 1048/2013, of 27 December, which establishes the methodology for the calculation of the remuneration of the electricity distribution activity.

b) In the case of electricity generation facilities, including self-consumers on the generation side, to the provisions of article 6 of Royal Decree 1699/2011, of 18 November, which regulates the connection to the grid of small-scale electricity production facilities, or in the thirteenth additional provision of Royal Decree 1955/2000, of 1 December, which regulates the activities of transmission, distribution, commercialisation, supply and authorisation procedures for electricity facilities, as applicable in each case.

4. In the case of electricity generation and consumer installations, the technical conditions referred to in the first paragraph shall be accompanied by a detailed financial budget drawn up by the system operator for compliance with the technical conditions and for the carrying out of any action necessary to make the physical connection effective.

5. With the exception of the deadlines, which shall be governed by Article 13, the financial budget to be submitted by the system operator, in accordance with the provisions of the previous section, shall comply with the following, as applicable in each case:

(a) In the case of consumers, to the provisions of Chapters VI and VII of Royal Decree 1048/2013, of 27 December.

b) In the case of electricity generation facilities, including self-consumers on the generation side, to the provisions of article 6 of Royal Decree 1699/2011, of 18 November, which regulates the connection to the grid of small electrical energy production facilities, or in the thirteenth additional provision of Royal Decree 1955/2000, of 1 December, which regulates the activities of transport, distribution, commercialisation, supply and authorisation procedures for electrical energy facilities, as applicable.

c) The economic criteria established by the National Commission for Markets and Competition, in accordance with the provisions of article 33.11 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December.

6. The economic budget drawn up by the network operator, in accordance with the provisions of the previous section, shall be notified to the applicant by the network operator simultaneously with the technical conditions referred to in the first section.

7. Unless expressly requested by the applicant, the financial budget shall not include those installations which, in accordance with the regulations in force, the grid system operator is not obliged to develop. The applicant's express request shall be made at the time the application initiating the access and connection procedure is submitted or, if this requires the applicant to rectify the situation, at the time the information used to respond to the request for rectification is submitted.

8. When new installations are necessary in the transmission or distribution network, the budget shall be calculated taking into account both construction costs and other costs necessary for the connection of the installations that are the object of the request for access and connection.

9. In the case of electricity generation facilities, the notification made by the grid system operator, in accordance with the provisions of this article, shall include the category that corresponds to assign to each of the electricity generation modules that make up the facility, in accordance with the provisions of article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2016/631, of 14 April, and Royal Decree 647/2020, of 7 July.

Article 13. Deadlines for the submission of the preliminary proposal.
1. In general, the maximum period for the grid system operator to notify the applicant of the result of the analysis of its application accompanied by its technical and economic conditions shall be as follows:

a) For installations whose point of connection to the distribution grid is at a voltage of less than 1 kV:

1) When a supply of up to 15 kW is requested in which it is not necessary to carry out new grid extension installations: five days.

2) In all other cases: fifteen days.

b) For installations with a connection point to the distribution grid at a voltage equal to or greater than 1 kV and less than 36 kV: thirty days.

c) For installations with a connection point to the distribution network at a voltage equal to or greater than 36 kV: forty days.

d) For installations with a connection point to the transmission grid: sixty days.

The above periods shall be calculated from the date on which the application is considered to have been accepted for processing.

2. In the case of facilities for which the analysis of their application for access and connection permits requires, in accordance with the provisions of this Royal Decree, an acceptability report from the upstream system operator, the maximum periods established in this article shall be increased by the period established for the submission of the corresponding acceptability report.

Article 14. Acceptance of the proposal.
1. Once the proposed connection point and the technical and economic conditions have been received, in accordance with the provisions of Article 12, the applicant shall notify the system operator whether or not it accepts the proposal, within a maximum period of thirty days.

2. If the applicant has not provided the network operator with a reply within the time limits specified in the previous paragraph, this shall be considered as a non-acceptance of the proposed point or the proposed solution.

3. In the event of disagreement with the technical or economic solution, or both, the applicant may, within the period indicated in the first section, notify the operator and request a review of specific aspects of the technical or economic conditions at the connection point analysed, and must comply with any additional documentation requirements specified by the system operator, within a maximum period of ten days. Failure to comply with the request within the aforementioned period shall be considered as non-acceptance of the proposed point or of the proposed solution.

4. The system operator shall respond to the request for revision within a period not exceeding fifteen days. For these purposes, the time limit shall be deemed to start after the additional information request, if any, required by the system operator in accordance with the previous section has been complied with.

5. After receiving the network operator's response to the request for review, the applicant shall reply with its acceptance within the same period as set out in the first paragraph. Failure to provide such a reply within the deadline shall be deemed a non-acceptance of the proposed item or the proposed solution.

6. Non-acceptance by the applicant within the deadlines set out in this article shall result in the rejection of the application for the access and connection permits, and the financial guarantee deposited shall be returned, in accordance with the provisions of Article 23 of this Royal Decree.

7. In those cases in which, in accordance with the provisions of this Royal Decree, the financial budget includes the part of the facilities that the grid system operator is not obliged to develop, acceptance of the financial proposal shall not imply, under any circumstances, that the applicant accepts that it is the grid system operator who is to execute the said facilities. Said acceptance must be expressly made in accordance with the terms and deadlines established in this respect in the regulations referred to in paragraphs a) and b) of article 12.5 of this Royal Decree.

8. The review of a previous proposal, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph three of this Article, shall suspend the deadlines of the procedures relating to other requests for access and connection when these procedures may be affected by the result of the review. The suspension shall end when the applicant decides whether or not to accept the proposed review or, if the applicant does not expressly decide, when the time limit set out in paragraph 5 expires.

9. In the case of generation or demand facilities at voltage points equal to or lower than 36 kV, the proposal shall not be considered accepted until the applicant has previously signed a payment agreement for the infrastructure to be developed by the grid system operator, in accordance with the regulations in force.

Article 15. Issuance of access and connection permits.
1. Following acceptance by the applicant of the connection point, the technical conditions for access and connection, and the economic conditions for connection, the operator and the system operator shall issue, respectively, the corresponding access and connection permits.

2. The system operator shall notify the interested party of the access and connection permits issued within a maximum of twenty days of notification to the system operator of the applicant's acceptance or, where appropriate, of the signing of the payment agreement referred to in section nine of the preceding article.

3. The access and connection permits shall contain all the information that the National Markets and Competition Commission determines in application of the provisions of article 33.11 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December.

4. Distribution system operators with a connection to the transmission grid shall inform the system operator of the resolution of the procedures for obtaining access and connection permits for the facilities included in the scope of this Royal Decree, in accordance with the mechanism, support and format defined by the system operator.

In the case of consumption facilities, the above obligation shall be limited to facilities connected at a voltage level where direct transformation to the transmission grid exists or is planned and whose power associated with the extension rights is equal to or greater than 20 MW. These obligations shall be deemed to be satisfied when the system operator and transmission system operator must be informed of the resolution of an access and connection procedure in accordance with the provisions of section five of this article.

5. Where the procedure for obtaining access and connection permits required an acceptability report, the upstream system operator shall inform the upstream system operator of the outcome of the relevant procedure for obtaining access and connection permits. In turn, the upstream system operator shall inform the upstream system operator from whom, where applicable, it has requested an acceptability report of such a procedure.

CHAPTER IV
Fast-track procedure and exemptions
Article 16.
1. An abbreviated procedure may be used to obtain access and connection permits for those parties in which any of the following circumstances apply:

a) Electricity producers with an installed power not exceeding 15 kW, and who are not exempt from obtaining said permit, by virtue of the provisions of Article 17.

(b) Low-voltage consumers applying for a new connection point with a capacity not exceeding 15 kW and who are not exempted from obtaining such a permit under Article 17.

(c) Low-voltage consumers applying for an extension of the capacity of an existing supply with a final capacity not exceeding 15 kW and who are not exempted from obtaining such a permit under the provisions of Article 17.

2. The abbreviated procedure for the granting of permits shall be governed by the same principles as the general procedure, although the time limits shall be reduced by half.

3. The application of the fast-track procedure, as provided for in this Article, shall be determined by the system operator on the basis of the criteria referred to in paragraph 1, without it being necessary for the applicant to include it in its application.

Article 17. Exemptions from obtaining access and connection permits.
1. In accordance with the provisions of the second additional provision of Royal Decree-Law 15/2018, of 5 October, the following shall be exempt from obtaining access and connection permits:

a) The generation facilities of consumers under the self-consumption modality without surplus.

b) In the self-consumption with surplus, production facilities with power equal to or less than 15 kW, which are located on urbanised land that has the facilities and services required by urban planning legislation.
2. Additionally, consumers that meet the requirements established in article 25.1 of Royal Decree 1048/2013, of 27 December, shall be exempt from obtaining access and connection permits.

CHAPTER V
Access capacity contests

Article 18. Holding of access capacity tenders in certain nodes of the transmission grid for the integration of renewables.
1. In accordance with the provisions of section 10 of article 33 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, by order of the Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, following a report by the Government Delegate Commission for Economic Affairs, access capacity tenders may be called at a specific node of the transmission grid for new electricity generation facilities that use renewable primary energy sources and for storage facilities.

2. The contests referred to in this Article may be carried out for specific transmission system nodes, except for those considered to be just transition nodes, which may be included in one of the following groups:

i. Group 1. New nodes which are introduced through a new electricity transmission system planning process or through modification of specific aspects of the existing plan.

ii. Group 2. Nodes in which access capacity is freed up as a result of the provisions of article 1 of Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of 23 June, or for other reasons.

iii. Group 3. Nodes in which new capacity arises as a result of regulatory changes in the criteria for calculating access capacity or as a result of improvements to the transmission and distribution networks.

In addition, one of the following conditions must be met:

a) In the case of group 1 nodes, the number of access requests submitted during the planning process at the nodes which have an electricity connection to the planned new node or at the electricity lines connecting these nodes with each other, has been more than five times the threshold of released access capacity referred to in paragraph three of this article.

b) In the case of group 2 and 3 knots, if any of the following circumstances apply:

1) the number of access applications during the two years prior to the release or emergence of capacity has been more than three times the threshold of released access capacity referred to in section three of this article;

(2) the number of access applications in the two years prior to the release or emergence of capacity in transmission system nodes electrically connected to the node in which the capacity is released has been more than five times the threshold of released access capacity referred to in section three of this article;

3) other tenders have been held in that node in which the capacity of the applications submitted was more than three times the access capacity tendered for that node;

(4) the number of access applications submitted in capacity tenders at electrically connected transmission system nodes at the node at which the capacity is released has exceeded three times the access capacity tendered in the tenders for those nodes.

3. In any case, in order to call for tenders in the hubs referred to in the previous section, it must be complied with that the availability, release or capacity upwelling in the hubs, as appropriate in each case, shall be equal to or greater than 100 MW, in the case of hubs located in the peninsular electricity system, or equal to and greater than 50 MW, in hubs located in non-peninsular territories.

Article 19. Criteria applicable to tenders.
1. The competitions organised by virtue of the provisions of this chapter shall have the following characteristics:

a) The asset to be awarded shall be the access capacity to evacuate electric power, expressed in MW.

b) Participants must be interested in building storage facilities, or electricity generation facilities that use renewable primary energy sources, which may also incorporate storage facilities.

(c) They may relate to all or part of the available access capacity of the node.

d) The criteria applied to the tender shall be as follows:

1) Temporary criteria, which serve to prioritise those projects which begin injecting energy into the grid earlier and which may contribute to the regularity or quality of supply, or to the sustainability and economic efficiency of the electricity system.

2) Criteria associated with generation technology, which serve to prioritise projects that can maximise the volume of renewable energy that can be integrated into the grid under secure conditions for the system and which can contribute to the regularity or quality of supply, or to the sustainability and economic efficiency of the electricity system.

3) Tenders may also incorporate technical criteria that serve to prioritise the granting of access to projects that incorporate electricity generation technologies in the R&D&I phase, in order to demonstrate that the renewable energy generated can be integrated into the grid under secure conditions for the system, to analyse its contribution to the regularity and quality of supply, and whether these technologies can contribute to the sustainability and economic efficiency of the electricity system. Under no circumstances may the power reserved in a tender for this type of R&D&I facilities exceed 30 MW per grid node.

2. The order referred to in Article 18.1 shall be published in the Official State Gazette and shall establish:

a) A deadline by which the successful bidder must have begun to inject energy from the awarded installation.

b) The daily penalties for not injecting energy from the awarded plant, which may not be less than 25% of the cost of the estimated energy not produced. For these purposes, the price of the energy shall be taken as the average daily hourly price during the period in which energy is not injected. Likewise, the estimate of the daily energy not produced will be the result of multiplying the installed power by the result of dividing the annual equivalent hours of the installation by the number of days of the year. The amount resulting from the application of these penalties shall be considered as income to be settled by the electricity system.

c) Technical and/or economic tie-breaker criteria.

3. For the purposes of the provisions of section 2.b), each participant shall provide a guarantee to the Caja General de Depósitos for an amount equivalent to the penalty for delays in the injection of energy.

These guarantees must be sufficient to cover the penalty for failure to inject energy in the event that the successful bidder fails to comply with the deadline for injecting energy into the grid to which it has committed itself. The period of non-compliance used to calculate these guarantees will be the period between the date to which the successful bidder has committed and the maximum period for accrediting the obtaining of the definitive administrative authorisation for operation, without the expiry of the access and connection permits, as established in Article 1 of Royal Decree 23/2020, of 23 December.

Failure to comply with the injection and payment commitments, in the event of a penalty, will lead to the execution of the guarantees in favour of the electricity system.

For the calculation of the penalty to be covered by the guarantees, the best futures prices collected by the Iberian Market Operator for that period, as established in the order, shall be applied.

Article 20. Procedure for holding tenders.
1. The system operator may not grant access capacity by application of the time priority criterion set out in article 7 for the capacity available or released for any of the reasons set out in article 18.2 in the month in which it is released.

Where a node meets the conditions referred to in Article 18.2, the system operator shall reject new applications at that node and suspend access procedures at that node to which it applies the general criteria set out in Article 7, and shall not issue acceptability reports relating to applications for access at downstream nodes, where the granting of access permits or the issuing of such reports is conditioned by the access capacity that is available or has been released at the node.

Failure to issue the acceptability reports referred to in the previous paragraph shall have the effect of suspending the procedures for the granting of access and connection permits which are conditional upon the issuing of such reports.

The system operator shall notify the affected parties of the suspension or, where appropriate, the impossibility of issuing reports, as a result of the provisions of this section.

2. Owners of electricity generation facilities whose requests for access and connection have been suspended as a result of the provisions of this article may withdraw their requests, it being understood that, for the purposes of the guarantees provided, the withdrawal is for reasons beyond the control of the said owner, and the competent body shall proceed to return the said guarantees.

Withdrawal for the aforementioned reasons shall not be incompatible with the possibility of submitting their proposal to the call for tender.

3. On the first working day of each month, the system operator shall send the Secretary of State for Energy a report detailing those nodes that meet any of the criteria established in article 18. 2 in order to be included in groups 2 and 3, indicating the specific reason for the release or emergence of capacity, in particular, whether it is due to the application of the provisions of article 1 of Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of 23 June, as well as details of the capacity which has been released or which has emerged, and the new access capacity of the node which results from taking this capacity into account.

Likewise, the system operator's report shall include a list of the nodes which meet the criteria established in article 18.2 for inclusion in group 1, with details of the access capacity available at each of them.

This report shall also state whether or not any of the nodes belonging to the above groups meet the requirements set out in article 18 for holding a call for tenders.

4. If the system operator's report states that the capacity available or released at a node does not meet the threshold referred to in article 18.3, the impossibility of admitting applications shall cease to apply, the suspension of the access and connection procedures provided for in the second section of this article shall be lifted and, from the first day of the month following the month in which the capacity is released, the capacity shall be available, applying the general criteria set out in article 7.

5. In the event that the system operator's report shows that any of the nodes included therein meet the threshold for calling a tender referred to in article 18.3, the Secretary of State for Energy may, within a maximum period of two months, issue a resolution stating that, in certain nodes, an access capacity tender shall be held, by ministerial order, under the terms established in this Royal Decree. This resolution may also expressly state in which hubs no access competition shall be held. In any case, if no resolution has been issued within the aforementioned maximum period of two months, or if the resolution does not contain certain hubs, it shall be understood that no tender shall be held at these hubs. The foregoing shall be understood to be without prejudice to the fact that if the conditions required in the aforementioned nodes are subsequently met again and the system operator's report so states, an access tender may be held in the same nodes.

The decision of the Secretary of State for Energy shall be notified to the system operator and published in the Official State Gazette.

The access capacity that is released or comes to the surface in the nodes where a tender has been agreed to be held shall be added to the initial capacity that gave rise to the resolution and shall be reserved for the tender to be held, without this capacity being awarded by applying the general criteria set out in article 7.

In those hubs where no invitation to tender is called, the reserved capacity shall become available for allocation by applying the general criterion set out in Article 7.

The system operator shall send the Secretary of State for Energy all the information that the latter may request for the holding of tenders, in particular that relating to the total reserved capacity in each of the hubs.

The reserved capacity accumulated for the purpose of a future tender shall be maintained until the approval of the order announcing the tender.

6. The Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge may include in the invitation to tender all or part of the hubs for which the Secretary of State for Energy has announced the holding of a tender, in accordance with the provisions of this article. In any case, the order to call a tender shall be issued within a maximum period of ten months from the date of the decision of the Secretary of State for Energy announcing the holding of the tender.

7. Installations that are awarded the tenders organised by virtue of this chapter shall apply for the granting of the corresponding access and connection permits, in accordance with the provisions of this Royal Decree, although the time priority criterion set out in section one of article 7 shall not apply in this case.

8. Non-acceptance by the successful bidder of the technical and economic conditions arising from the access and connection procedure shall have the effects set out in Article 14, without prejudice to the consequences arising from non-compliance with the conditions attached to the tender.

9. In order to determine the access capacity that may be granted in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, account shall be taken of the maximum available access capacity. This maximum access capacity shall be determined by the system operator in application of the technical access criteria established by the National Markets and Competition Commission, in accordance with the provisions of article 33.11 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December. To this end, the Directorate General for Energy Policy and Mines may request the transmission grid operator for the existing capacity in the grid nodes in application of the technical criteria established by the National Commission for Markets and Competition.

10. The Directorate General for Energy Policy and Mines shall send the system operator the information relating to the capacity of the applications submitted at each of the nodes included in a tendering procedure, indicating whether this capacity allows the conclusion to be drawn that these nodes are likely to be included in future tenders, in accordance with the criteria set out in section b)2.º of the second paragraph of article 18.2.

The above information shall be submitted no later than one month after the deadline for submitting proposals set in the access capacity tendering order.

CHAPTER VI
Actions after obtaining access and connection permits Article 21. Technical contract for access to the network.

1. Once the corresponding permits for access and connection to a grid point of an installation have been issued and the administrative authorisations for said installation referred to in article 53.1 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, including its connection infrastructures, have been obtained, consumers, generators and electricity distributors shall sign a technical access contract with the owner of the grid in which the connection point is located, within a maximum period of five months, which shall govern the technical relations between them.

2. The content of the technical access contract shall in all cases comply with the content that, for these purposes, is established by the National Markets and Competition Commission under the provisions of article 33.11 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December.

3. Any discrepancies that may arise regarding the technical access contract shall be resolved by the same body that, in accordance with the provisions of article 33.5 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, is competent to resolve conflicts or discrepancies in the case of connection permits.

4. The technical access contract may be modified at the request of either of the parties, provided that there is an explicit agreement between both parties, it complies with the applicable requirements and it is possible in accordance with the applicable sectoral regulations. The request for modification must include an alternative proposal, duly justified, by the requesting party.

In the event of failure to reach agreement on the amendment, either party may bring a dispute before the same body referred to in the previous paragraph.

5. Consumption connected to voltages lower than 36 kV, generation installations for self-consumption without surplus and production installations with power equal to or lower than 15 kW located on urbanised land that have an access contract in force for associated consumption installations shall be exempt from formalising the corresponding technical access contract with the distribution company.

Article 22. Grid access contract for consumers.
1. Consumers shall formalise the corresponding access contract with the distribution company that corresponds in each case, in accordance with the provisions of article 44 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, and articles 59 and 81 of Royal Decree 1955/2000, of 1 December. The access contract shall contain the economic conditions associated with the supply of electricity.

2. In the case of consumption facilities connected to the transmission grid, the formalisation of the access contract shall be conditional upon the presentation of the technical access contract signed with the transmission grid owner.

3. In the case of consumption facilities connected to the distribution system, the technical access contract and the access contract may be formalised in a single document.

CHAPTER VII
Financial guarantees and expiry of access and connection permits Article 23. Financial guarantees required for the processing of access and connection procedures for electricity generation facilities.
1. For electricity generation facilities, before submitting an application for access and connection to the transmission grid or, where appropriate, to the distribution grid, the applicant shall submit to the body responsible for granting authorisation for the facility a receipt certifying that he has deposited, after the entry into force of this Royal Decree, a financial guarantee for an amount equivalent to €40/kW installed.

In the case of installations under the jurisdiction of the General State Administration, this guarantee shall be deposited with the General Depository.

Once the access permit has been issued, if it has been granted for a capacity lower than that requested, the permit holder may modify the amount of the guarantee deposited to adjust it to the capacity granted.

2. Installations with a capacity equal to or less than 15 kW, or those generation installations intended for self-consumption that are not considered production installations, shall be exempt from presenting the guarantee referred to in the previous section, unless these installations form part of a group whose capacity is greater than 1 MW, in accordance with the definition of group established in article 7 of Royal Decree 413/2014, of 6 June.

3. The presentation of the accreditation receipt referred to in the first section shall be an essential requirement for the initiation of the access and connection procedures by the transmission system operator or, where applicable, the distribution system operator. To this end, the body responsible for granting authorisation for the installation shall send the applicant confirmation of the applicant's adequate provision of the guarantee.

For the above purposes, the presentation to the body responsible for granting authorisation for the installation of the receipt certifying that the guarantee has been lodged must be accompanied by an express request for that body to rule on whether the guarantee has been properly lodged, in order to be able to present that confirmation to the relevant system operator so that the latter can accept the application. The application shall include the transmission or distribution system to which access and connection are intended to be requested. If the application or the accompanying guarantee deposit slip does not comply with the regulations, the body responsible for granting authorisation for the installation shall require the interested party to rectify the situation. For these purposes, the date of submission of the application shall be considered to be the date on which the correction was made.

The deadline for the competent body to rule on whether the guarantee has been adequately provided shall be three months from the date of submission of the application or, where appropriate, from the date on which the application has been rectified. In accordance with the third additional provision of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, once the aforementioned period has passed without the competent body having ruled on the application, the ruling of said body shall be understood to be negative.

4. The purpose of the guarantee provided in accordance with the provisions of this article shall be to obtain the operating authorisation.

The guarantee receipt must expressly indicate the reference to this article, as well as at least the following data on the installation: technology, name and location of the project, and its installed power for identification purposes.

The modification of the guarantees presented, at any time prior to obtaining the operating permit, if this modification means that the installation cannot be considered the same for the purposes of access and connection, in accordance with the provisions of the fourteenth additional provision of Royal Decree 1955/2000, of 1 December, will entail the automatic loss of the access and/or connection permits granted or requested.

5. The financial guarantee shall be cancelled when the applicant obtains the definitive operating authorisation for the electricity generation facility. The cancellation shall be carried out within a maximum period of three months from the date of the request by the applicant providing the operating authorisation.

6. The expiry of the access and connection permits in accordance with the provisions of article 26 of this Royal Decree will result in the immediate execution by the body responsible for issuing the administrative authorisations of the financial guarantees presented for processing the application for access to the transmission or distribution grid, as applicable in each case.

However, the body responsible for authorising the installation may exempt the execution of the guarantee deposited if the expiry of the access and connection permits is due to a report or resolution of a public administration preventing such construction, and this has been requested by the latter.

Article 24. Payments for actions carried out in the transmission or distribution networks after obtaining access and connection permits for electricity generation facilities at voltage points above 36 kV.

The holders of access and connection permits for generation facilities, whose connection point is a voltage higher than 36 kV, must make the payments and sign the project commissioning contract referred to in the second and third sections of the third additional provision of Royal Decree-Law 15/2018, of 5 October, within the periods and under the terms set out therein.

Article 25. Payments for actions carried out on transmission or distribution grids by holders of access and connection permits for demand facilities at voltage points above 36 kV.
1. When, in order to allow the connection of demand facilities to the grid, all or part of the work carried out on the transmission or distribution networks must be paid for by the holders of the access and connection permits and this work must be carried out by the grid owner, the holders of the access and connection permits, whose connection point is at voltages above 36 kV, shall submit a payment of 10% of the investment value of the work carried out on the network to the grid owner, within a period not exceeding twelve months from the date the permits were obtained.

2. The value of the investment referred to in the previous paragraph shall include the connection position and the works of reinforcement, adaptation, adaptation or reform of network installations necessary for the connection.

3. In the event that the work on the network is not carried out for reasons beyond the applicant's control, the advance referred to in the first paragraph shall be reimbursed.

4. After payment of the amount referred to in section one of this article, and once prior administrative authorisation has been obtained for the demand installation, if this is necessary, the holder of the access and connection permit shall, within four months of the last of the two previous milestones, sign a project order contract with the grid system operator for the grid system installations to which the demand installation is to be connected. This contract shall include the additional payments to the amounts referred to in the first paragraph, for the development and execution of the installations by the grid operator, to be borne by the parties wishing to connect to the grid.

In the event of withdrawal by the applicant, he may recover the costs paid, with the exception of the non-recoverable costs incurred up to that time by the grid system owner in connection with the processing and construction of the facilities, and the access and connection permits shall expire.

5. In relation to installations that, in accordance with Royal Decree 1048/2013, of 27 December, are considered new grid extension and are developed with a legally authorised installation company other than the distribution or transmission company, the developer shall submit to said distribution or transmission company that owns the grid at said point, the project for the new grid extension installations and its execution programme within the same deadlines referred to in the previous section.

Article 26. Expiry of access and connection permits.
1. In general, and in accordance with the provisions of article 33.8 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, and article 1 of Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of 23 June, access and connection permits shall expire:

a) If, five years after they have been obtained, the facilities to which said access and connection permits refer have not obtained administrative authorisation to operate. In the case of access permits granted for projects for pumped-storage hydroelectric power generation facilities, this period may be extended, at the request of the licensee, to seven years.

Likewise, and in accordance with Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of 23 June, in the case of electricity generation facilities that obtained the access permit on a date between 28 December 2013 and before the entry into force of Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of 23 June, the above periods will be counted from the date of entry into force of the aforementioned Royal Decree-Law.

b) In the case of installations constructed and in service when, for reasons attributable to the owner of the installation other than temporary closure, the discharge of energy to the grid ceases for a period of more than three years.

2. Likewise, access and connection permits shall lapse in the event of non-compliance with the administrative milestones established in article 1 of Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of 23 June, within the periods established therein.

3. For the purposes of compliance with the administrative milestones referred to in the previous section, in the case of hybridisation of an installation that has already been granted an access permit and does not yet have the authorisation for commissioning of the initial technology, the calculation of deadlines shall be based exclusively on the technology with the initial access permit, The time periods shall be calculated from the date on which the access permit is granted, unless the permit was obtained prior to the entry into force of Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of 23 June, in which case the time periods shall be calculated from the date of entry into force of the aforementioned Royal Decree-Law.

4. In addition to the provisions of the preceding paragraphs, access and connection permits for electricity generation facilities shall lapse if the payments referred to in Article 24 are not made.

The expiry of access and connection permits for this reason shall be notified by the grid system owner to the administration responsible for authorising the installation, as well as to the grid system operator where the connection point to which the expired access and connection permit refers is located.

CHAPTER VIII
Hybridisation of installations.
Article 27. Hybridisation of electricity generation facilities with access and connection permits granted.
1. In accordance with the provisions of article 33.12 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, the owners of electricity generation facilities with access and connection permits granted and in force, who hybridise these facilities by incorporating electricity generation modules that use renewable primary energy sources or by incorporating storage facilities, may evacuate electricity using the same connection point and access capacity already granted.

2. For this purpose, the holders of such permits shall apply to the relevant system operator to update the access and connection permits. Such an application shall not require the granting of a new access and connection permit and shall therefore not be subject to the time priority criterion set out in Article 7(1). However, in the event of non-compliance with the milestones referred to in article 1 of Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of 23 June, the system operator and the network owner shall restore the access permit and, where appropriate, the connection permit, to the original situation, notifying the competent authority, which shall proceed to enforce the guarantees referred to in section 6 of this article.

3. Hybridisation under the terms set out in this article may be carried out provided that the holders of the access and connection permits accredit to the grid system operator that the electricity generation facility resulting from hybridisation meets the following requirements:

(a) It respects the technical access and connection criteria contemplated in the corresponding regulations in force, and in particular with those that the National Markets and Competition Commission establishes for this purpose in the corresponding circular.

b) It does not involve increasing the access capacity granted by such an amount that the installation cannot be considered the same, in accordance with the provisions of the fourteenth additional provision of Royal Decree 1955/2000, of 1 December.

c) It complies with the applicable technical requirements.

d) The owner of the installation already has an access and connection permit in force for at least one of the electricity generation modules that make up the installation.

e) Under no circumstances may the installed power of the technology for which the access and connection permits have been granted be less than 40% of the access capacity granted in the access permit.

f) It complies, where applicable, with the metering requirements defined in section 5 of this article.

g) The new electricity generation modules that are incorporated into the installation comply with the connection requirements established in Regulation (EU) 2016/631, of 14 April 2016, as well as in the regulations that serve to develop or implement the same.

Failure to comply with the above conditions will result in the grid operator rejecting the request to update the access and connection permit and, consequently, the need to process and obtain an access and connection permit in order to be able to connect the hybrid generation facility to the grid. The rejection of the application to update the access and connection permits for this reason shall not entail the loss of the access and connection permits originally granted.

4. The electricity generation modules and storage facilities that make up the hybrid generation installation shall have a coordinated control system that prevents the maximum access capacity that may be evacuated from being exceeded at any time, taking into account the provisions of paragraph b) of the previous section.

5. The electricity generation modules that form part of the hybrid installation and are covered by a specific or additional remuneration system shall have the metering equipment that allows them to be adequately remunerated.

The foregoing shall be understood without prejudice to the considerations that, for remuneration purposes, are established in Royal Decree 413/2014, of 6 June.

6. Applications to update access and connection permits for hybrid facilities resulting from the application of the provisions of this article shall be subject to the general procedure for obtaining new permits with the following special features:

a) The time periods foreseen in the abbreviated procedure shall apply.

b) The time priority criterion referred to in the first paragraph of Article 7 shall not be applicable.

c) The economic guarantees of the new module referred to in Chapter VII shall be reduced by 50%.

d) The grid system operator's assessment of the application shall include an evaluation of compliance with the requirements referred to in the third paragraph of this Article.

Article 28. Hybridisation of electricity generation facilities without access and connection permits granted.
1. In accordance with the provisions of article 33.12 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, applications may be submitted for access permits for hybrid electricity generation facilities that incorporate several technologies provided that at least one of them uses a renewable primary energy source or incorporates storage facilities.

2. Applications submitted in accordance with the previous paragraph shall be subject to the general procedure for granting access with the following particularities:

a) The financial guarantees referred to in Chapter VII shall be reduced by 50% for technologies that contribute less power in percentage terms.

b) If there is an application for access and connection in progress for which the corresponding permits have not yet been obtained, the application may be updated. For the purposes of consideration of temporal priority for the granting of the said permits, the date shall be that of the original application, provided that the generation facility can be considered the same, in accordance with the provisions of the fourteenth additional provision of Royal Decree 1955/2000, of 1 December.

3. The electricity generation modules that form part of the hybrid installation and are covered by a specific or additional remuneration system must have the metering equipment that allows them to be adequately remunerated. The foregoing shall be understood without prejudice to the considerations established for remuneration purposes in Royal Decree 413/2014, of 6 June.

CHAPTER IX
Dispute resolution and penalty regime Article 29. Resolution of access and connection conflicts.
1. In accordance with the provisions of article 33.3 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, the National Markets and Competition Commission shall resolve, at the request of any of the affected parties, any possible conflicts that may arise in relation to the access permit to the transmission and distribution networks, as well as the refusals thereof issued by the transmission system operator and the distribution system operator, under the terms set out in the aforementioned article.

2. In accordance with the provisions of article 33.5 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, the discrepancies that arise in relation to the processing, granting or refusal of the connection permit for transmission or distribution facilities shall be resolved:

a) In the case of facilities whose authorisation is the responsibility of the General State Administration, by the National Markets and Competition Commission.

b) In the case of facilities whose authorisation is the responsibility of the Autonomous Community, they shall be resolved by the competent body of the corresponding Autonomous Community, following a report from the National Markets and Competition Commission.

3. In accordance with the provisions of article 33.5 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, the report to be issued by the National Commission for Markets and Competition, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph b) of the previous section, shall be binding in relation to the economic conditions and the temporary conditions relating to the implementation schedules of the facilities of the network owners included in the investment plans of the transmission network, and in the investment plans of the distribution companies approved by the General State Administration.

Article 30. Penalty regime.

Non-compliance with the provisions of this Royal Decree may be sanctioned in accordance with the provisions of Title X of Law 24/2013, of 26 December.

First additional provision. Coordinated control systems to ensure that the access capacity granted is not exceeded.

Electricity generation facilities whose total installed capacity exceeds the access capacity granted in their access permit must have a control system, coordinated for all the generation modules and storage facilities that comprise it, which prevents the active power that it may inject into the grid from exceeding said access capacity.

Second additional provision. Calculation of deadlines.

1. When in this Royal Decree deadlines are indicated by days, it is understood that these are working days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and those declared public holidays throughout the national territory.

2. Time limits expressed in days shall be counted from the day following the day on which service is effected, or from the day after the day on which such service should have been effected.

3. If the period is expressed in months or years, they shall be calculated from the day following the day on which service was to have been effected, or from the day after the day on which such service should have been effected.

4. The time limit shall end on the day on which service occurred or, where appropriate, should have occurred in the month or year in which it expired. If there is no day in the month of expiry equivalent to the day on which time begins to run, the period shall be deemed to expire on the last day of that month.

5. If the last day of the period is a non-business day, it shall be deemed to be extended to the first following business day.

6. For compliance with deadlines by transmission and distribution system operators or system operators, the calendar of working days of the autonomous community and municipality where the transmission system operator or system operator has its head office shall be taken into account.

Likewise, in the case of deadlines to be met by the applicant for an access and connection permit, the calendar of working days of the autonomous community and municipality where the applicant resides or has its registered office shall be taken into account.

7. However, in all matters not expressly provided for in this article, Article 30 of Law 39/2015, of 1 October, on the Common Administrative Procedure for Public Administrations, shall apply.

Third additional provision. Hybridisation of industrial plants with cogeneration. The owners of cogeneration facilities associated with a consumer who, prior to the entry into force of this Royal Decree, were selling all their net energy generated from the cogeneration plant, may maintain said regime and install renewable generation plants to carry out self-consumption with this new generation or storage facilities, provided that they carry out direct metering of the new generation modules installed and comply with all applicable regulations, in particular with regard to access and connection, hybridisation and self-consumption and, where applicable, with the provisions of Royal Decree 413/2014, of 6 June.

Without prejudice to the provisions of the second transitory provision of Royal Decree 244/2019, of 5 April, those cogeneration plants which, pursuant to the provisions of the first additional provision of Royal Decree 900/2015, of 9 October, have been granted a singular metering configuration and hybridise said facilities by incorporating electricity generation modules that use renewable primary energy sources or by incorporating storage facilities, must obtain a resolution to update said singular metering configuration. To this end, the owners of the singular metering configurations must submit to the Directorate General for Energy Policy and Mines, within twenty-four months of the entry into force of this Royal Decree, an application to update the singular metering configuration in force, providing the following with the application:

a) Certificate signed by the person in charge of reading consumption stating that the proposed metering configuration is suitable for determining the measures necessary for correct billing.

b) Certificate signed by the person in charge of reading the generation border point, stating that the proposed metering configuration is suitable for determining the measurements necessary for settlement and that the configuration allows direct metering of the new generation or storage modules installed.

c) Proposal of a time limit for the adaptation of the installation to the proposed unique metering configuration, which in no case may exceed twelve months from the granting of the resolution.

The person in charge of the Directorate General for Energy Policy and Mines shall authorise the use of a metering configuration when the certificates of those in charge of reading the consumer and production border points stating that the proposed metering configuration is suitable for determining the necessary measurements are accredited.

The decision of the Directorate General for Energy Policy and Mines which, where applicable, authorises the use of a metering configuration shall determine the maximum period for the installation to be adapted to it.

The period for resolving and notifying the authorisation to use a singular metering configuration shall be six months. Once this period has elapsed, it shall be understood that the application has been rejected without this putting an end to the administrative procedure.

Fourth additional provision. Definition of the installed capacity of photovoltaic solar installations for the purposes of applying the specific remuneration scheme.
For the purposes of the application of the specific remuneration scheme, the definition of installed capacity in force at the time of granting said remuneration scheme shall apply to the facilities included in subgroup b.1.1 of article 2 of Royal Decree 413/2014, of 6 June.

Fifth additional provision. Guarantees for demand facilities at voltage points above 36 kV.
The provisions of Article 25 shall be applicable to demand-side installations which, on the entry into force of this Royal Decree, have access and connection permits for grids with a voltage higher than 36 kV, although the term for payment of the 10 % referred to in the first paragraph of the said article shall be the longer of the following: one year, calculated from the date on which the connection permit was granted, or one year, from the entry into force of this Royal Decree.

Sixth additional provision. Application of observability and controllability requirements to existing installations. Regardless of the change in the definition of installed capacity introduced by means of the third final provision, those producers who, at the entry into force of this Royal Decree, were required to comply with the obligations set out in article 7 and in the twelfth additional provision of Royal Decree 413/2014, of 6 June, in accordance with the definition of installed capacity applicable prior to said entry into force, shall continue to comply with said obligations.

First transitional provision. Existing single node interlocutors.
1. The single node interlocutors that have been designated prior to the entry into force of this Royal Decree, by virtue of the provisions of Annex XV of Royal Decree 413/2014, of 6 June, shall continue to exercise their functions in relation to the access and connection procedures that had been initiated prior to said entry into force.

2. The single node interlocutor shall be obliged to send any communication that it receives or has received addressed to the petitioners and owners of the electricity generation facilities within a maximum period of five days from its receipt. If the transmission was pending prior to the entry into force of this Royal Decree, the aforementioned period shall begin to run from the date of entry into force of this Royal Decree.

3. Likewise, the single node interlocutor shall comply with requests for the transfer of documents or communications to the transmission system operator or transmission system operator, as appropriate in each case, which are submitted or have been submitted by the applicants or permit holders of electricity generation facilities within a maximum period of five days from their receipt. If the request was submitted prior to the entry into force of this Royal Decree, the aforementioned period shall begin to run from the date of entry into force of this Royal Decree.

4. Disputes arising between access and connection applicants regarding relations with the single node interlocutor shall be treated as an access dispute.

5. The provisions of section four of Annex XV of Royal Decree 413/2014, of 6 June, shall not apply to access and connection procedures initiated after the entry into force of this Royal Decree.

Second transitional provision. Installations which, on entry into force of the Royal Decree, do not have a connection permit.
1. Installations which, on the entry into force of this Royal Decree, do not have a connection permit, but which have requested or obtained an access permit, shall request and process the obtaining of the said connection permit from the owner of the grid where they have requested or obtained the access permit, and therefore the provisions of article 5.2 of this Royal Decree shall not apply.

2. Installations which, on the entry into force of this Royal Decree, have applied for a connection permit but do not have an access permit, shall continue to apply to obtain the said connection permit from the grid owner where it has been applied for. Once the connection permit has been obtained, where applicable, these installations shall apply for the access permit from the grid system operator where they have been granted the connection permit.

3. For the purposes of processing and obtaining the connection or access permit in the cases referred to in this transitional provision, the procedure and time periods referred to in Chapter III shall apply, with the particularities inherent in the fact that only the connection or access permit need be obtained, as applicable in each case.

Third Transitional Provision. Inadmission of applications for access and connection permits in fair transition nodes.

From the entry into force of this Royal Decree and until the person in charge of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge regulates and resolves, in accordance with the provisions of the twenty-second additional provision of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, the procedures for granting access capacity in each of the fair transition nodes referred to in the Annex to Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of 23 June, the procedures for granting access capacity in each of the fair transition nodes referred to in the Annex to Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, the procedures for the granting of access capacity in each of the just transition nodes referred to in the Annex to Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of 23 June, the transmission system operator shall not accept applications for the granting of access capacity in said nodes.

Likewise, the competent administration for the authorisation of facilities shall not accept applications for a ruling on whether the guarantee is adequately constituted in accordance with the provisions of Article 23 of this Royal Decree, relating to facilities that plan to evacuate at said nodes.

Transitional provision four. Financial guarantees required for the processing of access and connection procedures for electricity generation facilities.
As established in article 23, in order to apply for access and connection to the transmission grid or, where appropriate, to the distribution grid, the guarantees must be constituted after the entry into force of this Royal Decree.

In no case shall guarantees constituted prior to the entry into force of this Royal Decree be valid for the processing of an access and connection permit for a new installation under this Royal Decree, even when such guarantees present an addendum or any type of modification to adapt to the requirements established in this Royal Decree.

Fifth transitional provision. Electrical installation files being processed at the time of entry into force of the Royal Decree.
1. For the purposes of the administrative processing of the authorisations provided for in article 53 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, the new definition of installed power introduced by final provision three one shall have effect for those facilities that, having initiated their processing, have not yet obtained the definitive operating authorisation.

2. In general, the new definition of installed capacity shall apply to authorisation procedures for electrical installations initiated prior to the entry into force of this Royal Decree.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, in order to avoid the detriment that could be caused to those affected by the restart of a new procedure, those cases for which the application of the new criterion would imply a change in the competent administration for their processing, will continue to be processed by the administration in which they were initiated until the operating authorisation and registration in the administrative register of electricity production facilities is obtained, provided that there are no changes in the installed power, in accordance with the diction prior to the entry into force of this Royal Decree, and provided that within three months of the entry into force of this Royal Decree the said administration is not notified of the abandonment of the procedure initiated.

Sixth transitional provision. Web platforms to be developed by transmission and distribution system operators.
1. The period for developing and making operational the functionalities of the web platforms referred to in article 5.3 of this Royal Decree shall be three months from the entry into force of this Royal Decree.

2. The deadline for developing and having operational the functionalities of the web platforms referred to in Article 5.4 of this Royal Decree, as well as the details of their content and the frequency with which the information must be updated, shall be those established by the National Commission for Markets and Competition in the circular to be approved in accordance with the provisions of Article 33.11 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December.

Seventh transitional provision. Adaptation of the register of electricity production facilities to the new definition of installed capacity of solar photovoltaic facilities established in the third final provision of this Royal Decree. The competent bodies for the registration of installations in the register of electricity production facilities shall have a period of twelve months, from the entry into force of this Royal Decree, to adapt the content of the same to the new definition of installed capacity of photovoltaic solar installations, established by virtue of the third final provision of this Royal Decree.

Eighth transitional provision. Inadmission of applications until the publication of the access capacities based on the evaluation criteria approved by the National Commission for Markets and Competition.

Until the publication on the platforms referred to in article 5.4 of the information on the values of available access capacity in accordance with the new criteria for the assessment of such capacity approved by the circular referred to in article 33.11 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, and in accordance with the detailed specifications that, where appropriate, are necessary to develop the methodology and conditions for access and connection established by said circular, network operators shall not accept new requests for access and connection submitted after the entry into force of this royal decree.

The foregoing shall be understood to be without prejudice to the possible holding of tenders in those nodes where this is possible in accordance with the provisions of Chapter V.

Sole repealing provision. Repeal of regulations.
Any provisions of equal or lower rank that oppose the provisions of this Royal Decree are hereby repealed, and in particular:

a) Articles 53, 54, 57, 59-bis, 62, 66 and 66-bis of Royal Decree 1955/2000, of 1 December, which regulates the activities of transmission, distribution, commercialisation, supply and authorisation procedures for electrical energy installations.

b) Articles 4.2 and 5 of Royal Decree 1699/2011, of 18 November, which regulates the connection to the grid of small power production facilities.

First final provision. Applicability of article 33 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, on the Electricity Sector.
With the entry into force of this Royal Decree, the provisions of article 33 of Law 24/2013, of 26 December, and its implementing regulations shall be fully applicable, in accordance with the provisions of the eleventh transitional provision of the same law.

Second final provision. Modification of Royal Decree 1955/2000, of 1 December, which regulates the activities of transmission, distribution, commercialisation, supply and authorisation procedures for electrical energy installations. Royal Decree 1955/2000, of 1 December 2000, which regulates the transmission, distribution, commercialisation, supply and authorisation procedures for electrical energy installations, is amended as follows:

One. A new paragraph 2 is inserted in Article 123, with the following wording:

"2. In the case of lines that fulfil the functions of evacuation of electricity production facilities, under no circumstances may prior administrative authorisation be granted for the evacuation infrastructures of a generation facility without the prior provision of a document, signed by all the owners of facilities with access and connection permits granted at the position of the line arriving at the substation of the transmission or distribution network, as appropriate in each case, which accredits the existence of a binding agreement for the parties in relation to the shared use of the evacuation infrastructures. For these purposes, the aforementioned document may be submitted at the time of making the application referred to in the previous paragraph or at any time during the procedure for obtaining prior administrative authorisation.

Two. The third paragraph of section five of the fourteenth additional provision is deleted, which shall read as follows:

"5. Under no circumstances shall the updating of access and connection permits for the reasons referred to in the previous section entail modification of the date on which said permits were granted, which shall continue to be the same as that of the permit granted.

Likewise, in no case shall the updating of an application for access and connection for the reasons referred to in the previous section entail modification of the date on which the application is deemed to have been made, in accordance with the provisions of the procedure governing the granting of access and connection permits.

Three. The fourteenth additional provision is amended by introducing a new sixth section, with the following wording:

"6. In order to update the access and connection permits requested and/or granted in accordance with the provisions of section four, the applicant or, where appropriate, the holder of the access and connection permits shall notify the system operator of its intention to update the access and connection application being processed or, where appropriate, the access and connection permits granted.

In view of this communication and the documentation provided, the system operator shall decide whether it considers that the application or, where appropriate, the access and connection permits granted should be updated, as it considers that the proposed modifications allow the installation to continue to be considered the same as the one that has applied for or has been granted the access and connection permits.

The update shall be conditional, in any case, on the replacement of the financial guarantee initially submitted by a second guarantee that includes the new terms.

To this end, once the network manager has issued a statement as to whether the installation remains the same for the purposes of the access and connection permits, the applicant or, where appropriate, the holder of the said permits shall contact the body responsible for authorising the installation to request authorisation to replace the guarantee deposited and, if favourable, to send it to the Caja General de Depósitos (General Depository).

Once the new guarantee has been deposited, a receipt accrediting its constitution must be presented to the body responsible for authorising the installation. The presentation of this receipt will be an essential requirement for requesting the transmission system operator or, where appropriate, the distribution system operator, to update the access and connection permits. To this end, the body responsible for granting authorisation for the installation shall send the applicant confirmation of the adequate provision of the guarantee.

For the above purposes, the presentation to the body responsible for granting authorisation for the installation of the receipt certifying that the guarantee has been lodged must be accompanied by an express request for that body to issue a ruling on whether the guarantee has been properly lodged in order to be able to present that confirmation to the relevant system operator so that the latter can accept the updating of the permits. If the application or the accompanying guarantee deposit slip does not comply with the regulations, the body responsible for granting authorisation for the installation shall require the interested party to rectify the situation. For these purposes, the date of submission of the application shall be considered to be the date on which the rectification was made.

Four. A new paragraph shall be added at the end of section one of Annex II, which shall read as follows:

"For these purposes, modifications in the geographical location of the installation occurring in a period of less than ten years shall be considered cumulatively and, therefore, the distance between the geometric centres of the new application with respect to the oldest application submitted within the aforementioned period shall be analysed."

Third final provision. Modification of Royal Decree 413/2014, of 6 June, which regulates the activity of electricity production from renewable energy sources, cogeneration and waste. Royal Decree 413/2014, of 6 June, regulating the activity of electricity production from renewable energy sources, cogeneration and waste, is amended as follows:

One. The second paragraph of article 3 is amended to read as follows:

"In the case of photovoltaic installations, the installed power shall be the lower of the following two:

a) the sum of the maximum unit powers of the photovoltaic modules that make up said installation, measured under standard conditions in accordance with the corresponding UNE standard.

b) the maximum power of the inverter or, where appropriate, the sum of the power of the inverters that make up the said installation.

Two. Article 4 is amended to read as follows:

"Article 4. Hybrid installations.

1. The specific remuneration system regulated in this Royal Decree shall only be applicable to hybrid installations included in one of the following types:

(a) Type 1 hybridisation: that installation which incorporates two or more of the main fuels indicated for groups b.6, b.8 and the black liquors of group c.2, and which, as a whole, account for at least 90 percent of the primary energy used measured by their lower calorific values on an annual basis.

(b) Hybridisation type 2: an installation in subgroup b.1.2 which additionally incorporates one or more of the main fuels listed for groups b.6, b.7 and b.8.

c) Type 3 hybridisation: an installation entitled to receive the specific remuneration system which incorporates a renewable technology from those defined in the groups and subgroups of category b) of article 2. Installations whose characteristics mean that they can be considered type 1 or type 2 will not be considered type 3 hybridisations.

2. In the case of type 1 hybridisation, registration in the register of the specific remuneration scheme and in the register of electricity production facilities shall be made in the group of the majority fuel, detailing the rest of the fuels used, stating the corresponding groups and the percentage of participation of each of them in terms of primary energy used.

In the case of hybridisation type 2, the entry shall be made in subgroup b.1.2, giving details of the other fuels used, stating the relevant groups or subgroups and the percentage share of each of them in terms of primary energy used.

In the case of type 3 hybridisation, the entry in the register of the specific remuneration scheme shall be made separately reflecting the technical characteristics of each of the technologies. If the incorporated technology is not entitled to receive the specific remuneration system, it shall receive the remuneration corresponding to its participation in the electricity production market or, where appropriate, any other economic system that may be established.

3. Hybridisation between the groups specified in this article shall only be applicable in the event that the owner of the installation keeps sufficient documentary records to allow reliable and unequivocal determination of the electrical energy produced attributable to each of the fuels and technologies of the specified groups.

For these purposes, in the case of type 3 hybridisations, they must have the necessary measuring equipment to determine the energy generated by each of them to allow adequate remuneration for the economic regimes applicable to them.

4. In the event that any of the fuels or technologies used in the hybridisation are added to or removed from those included in the register of the specific remuneration scheme and in the register of electricity production facilities, the owner of the facility must notify the body responsible for granting authorisation for that facility, for the purposes of the register of electricity production facilities, the body responsible for settlement and the Directorate General for Energy Policy and Mines, for the purposes of the register of the specific remuneration scheme, in accordance with the notification procedure defined in Article 51. Justification of the origin of the fuels not initially included in the register and their characteristics, as well as the percentages of participation of each fuel or technology in each of the groups, must be attached.

5. Type 1, type 2 hybrid plants and plants using more than one main fuel covered by this Article shall submit to the settlement body, before 31 March each year, a declaration of responsibility including the percentage share of each fuel and/or technology in each of the groups and subgroups indicating the annual quantity used in tonnes per year, their lower calorific value expressed in kcal/kg, the own consumption associated with each fuel, the yields of conversion of thermal energy from fuel into electrical energy, as well as a justification report that accredits the quantity and origin of the different primary fuels used. "

Three. A new paragraph is inserted between the fourth and fifth paragraphs of paragraph c) of Article 7, with the following wording:

"For the purposes of the provisions of this article, hybrid production facilities shall submit the information exchanged with the system operator in real time for the facility as a whole and the disaggregated information for each electricity generation module belonging to that facility, as well as, where appropriate, for storage facilities."

Four. Article 25 is amended to read as follows:

"Article 25. Remuneration for hybrid facilities.

1. The type 1 and type 2 hybrid facilities regulated in Article 4 that are recognised as being entitled to receive a specific remuneration system shall have the following special features:

a) The annual income from investment remuneration shall be calculated in accordance with the remuneration parameters and criteria approved by order of the Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism, following agreement by the Government Delegate Commission for Economic Affairs.

b) The annual income from operating remuneration applicable to electricity sold on the production market in any of its contracting forms shall be determined according to the percentage of primary energy supplied through each of the technologies and/or fuels, in accordance with the provisions of Annex IX.

2. In the case of type 1, type 2 hybrid installations and installations using more than one main fuel included in Article 4, settlements shall be made on account of the year-end settlement for the current year. For this purpose, the latest data available from the body responsible for the settlement of the percentages of fuels used by the installation shall be taken. Upon receipt of the documentation set out in Article 4.5, settlement shall be made on the basis of the percentages actually used.

3. In the event that the documentation established in article 4.5 is not sufficient to reliably and unequivocally determine the percentage of primary energy supplied in the previous year by each fuel, settlement shall be based on the lowest remuneration parameters among those corresponding to the different fuels or technologies used, without prejudice to the provisions of article 33.

4. The type 3 hybrid facilities regulated in Article 4 which are recognised as being entitled to receive a specific remuneration system shall have the following special features:

a) Revenues from investment remuneration shall be calculated considering the power of each remuneration unit and the investment remuneration associated with each one of them in accordance with the provisions of this Article.

b) Revenues from the remuneration for operation shall be calculated considering the power sold in the production market by each tariff unit and the remuneration for operation associated with each one of them, in accordance with the provisions of this Article.

Five. A new paragraph is inserted between the third and fourth paragraphs of the twelfth additional provision with the following wording:

"For the purposes of the provisions of this provision, hybrid production facilities shall submit the information exchanged with the system operator in real time for the facility as a whole and the disaggregated information for each electricity generation module belonging to said facility, as well as, where applicable, for storage facilities."

Fourth final provision. Modification of Royal Decree 738/2015, of 31 July, which regulates the activity of electricity production and the dispatch procedure in the electricity systems of the non-peninsular territories. Article 72(1)(c) is amended to read as follows:

"(c) Once the above has been done, the system operator shall settle the remaining income among the production facilities that have an additional or specific remuneration regime recognised in proportion to their energy generated measured at power plant busbars, with the limitation of income corresponding to the items in paragraphs a) and c) of article 7.1 or, where applicable, paragraphs a) and c) of additional provision ten.1 for facilities with a specific remuneration regime."

Fifth final provision. Modification of Royal Decree 647/2020, of 7 July, which regulates aspects necessary for the implementation of the grid connection codes for certain electrical installations. The title and the first paragraph of section 1 of the first transitional provision of Royal Decree 647/2020, of 7 July, regulating aspects necessary for the implementation of the network codes for the connection of certain electrical installations, is amended as follows:

"Transitional provision one. Transitional granting of limited operational notifications until the technical requirements have been accredited.

1. The owners of electricity generation modules and demand facilities to which Regulation (EU) 2016/631, of 14 April 2016, and Regulation (EU) 2016/1388, of 17 August 2016, are applicable, as well as the owners of electricity generation facilities located in the electricity systems of non-peninsular territories, shall have a period of twenty-four months, from the entry into force of the rule establishing the requirements derived from said regulations, during which time grid system operators may issue limited operational notifications, which will allow them to definitively register the facilities in the administrative register of electricity production facilities or, where appropriate, in the register of self-consumption facilities, until they are able to provide the relevant grid system operator with the necessary documentation accrediting compliance with the requirements applicable to them in each case. In particular, in the case of installations to which the aforementioned European regulations are applicable, the documentation that must be provided in accordance with the provisions of Title IV of the aforementioned regulations.

At the proposal of the grid system operators, the aforementioned period may be extended, before the end of the same, by order of the Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.

Sixth final provision. Title of competence.
This Royal Decree is issued under the provisions of Article 149.1.13 and 25 of the Spanish Constitution, which grants the State exclusive competence to determine the bases and coordination of the general planning of economic activity, and the bases of the mining and energy regime, respectively.

Seventh final provision. Regulatory empowerment.
The head of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge is empowered to adopt as many provisions as may be necessary for the development and application of this Royal Decree.

Eighth final provision. Entry into force.
This Royal Decree shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official State Gazette.

Given in Madrid, 29 December 2020.

FELIPE R.

Fourth Vice-President of the Government and Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge,

TERESA RIBERA RODRÍGUEZ