The grid is used at just 15%: the bottleneck is management, not construction

“There is no capacity at that node.”

It is the sentence I have read most often in letters from distribution companies. The last time was in Paterna, near Valencia. On the roof of ITECON, in the Táctica business park, we designed a 100 kW collective self-consumption installation for the companies on the estate. At that point of the grid there were only 50. We ended up installing 90.88 kWp of panels with 107.52 kWh of batteries and a 50 kW connection: whatever does not fit in the cable is stored in the batteries and goes out to the grid later.

It worked, but it took more batteries and more engineering to squeeze into a capacity sized for the worst moment of the year. And that is almost always the case: when a distribution company says there is no capacity, it means there is no firm capacity, the kind it can guarantee in the most demanding situation. The rest of the time, much of that capacity is there, reserved and unused.

Reserved, but unused

Fundación Renovables has just put numbers on it in its report Redes de distribución, de freno a motor de la electrificación (Distribution grids: from brake to engine of electrification). In 2025 only 14.9% of contracted power was actually used; the remaining 85.1% stayed reserved and unused, because the power at each connection point is sized for the maximum possible demand. At the same time, around 94% of connection points are saturated. They sum it up in the title of their note: a bottleneck that is not physical, but one of management.

In the previous link I explained that the money to invest in grids is already there. This time it is about something even cheaper: making better use of the grid we already have.

What the CNMC approved

On 31 July the CNMC, Spain's energy regulator, approved the resolution creating flexible access permits for demand. It was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on 11 August and has been in force since 1 September.

The idea is simple: if a node has no firm capacity, you no longer have to walk away with a no. You can connect under conditions. There are four types:

A flexible permit is not an option you choose for convenience. It is for when there is no firm capacity available at the node: the door that opens when the other one is shut.

When you can apply

This part needs a slow read, because it is easy to get wrong. The resolution has been in force since 1 September, but not every permit can be requested from that day.

At first, types 1 and 2 require connection at 30 kV or above. The threshold will later drop to above 1 kV, as distribution companies develop the necessary observability and control.

If you have a project stalled for lack of capacity, this winter is not for waiting. It is for preparing the application and reaching March with the homework done.

POD1: distribution companies start operating their grids

The same resolution approves POD1, the first operating procedure for the distribution grid.

Until now, distribution companies built grid and fixed faults. With POD1 they have to operate it in real time: real-time metering, observability of installations, signed operating protocols and the ability to issue an order that is carried out within minutes.

That is the new bottleneck, and it is not in the copper. A type 0 permit at medium voltage requires a system that manages the flexible power and a certificate from an ENAC-accredited body confirming on site that the schedule is respected. An industrial estate with its own energy manager will sort that out quickly. A town council that does not know what each building consumes hour by hour will not. The capacity exists, but to access it you need to be able to measure, control and prove.

And the map showing where flexible capacity exists is not yet public. The CNMC has announced it will be published, but for now it is held by the distribution company. So when you are told there is no capacity, the first step is to ask for it in writing and ask whether flexible access fits.

The cheapest investment

Connecting more consumption to the same grid needs no trenches, towers or new transformers. It is the cheapest investment in the system. And if the same grid costs are spread over more kilowatt-hours, the cost per unit falls for everyone: for whoever connects and for whoever was already there.

We have spent years arguing about how to pay for new grid. The next argument is how to make the most of the grid that is already paid for.

The case of batteries

The resolution does something that has gone almost unnoticed: storage access applications will be assessed as flexible access, as Royal Decree-Law 7/2026 already anticipated. Batteries with permits already granted will have three months, from the moment types 0 and 1 are activated, to apply for conversion.

It makes sense. A battery does not charge at peak time; at peak it discharges. Requiring firm capacity for it to consume meant reserving something it was not going to use and that someone else lacked. At ITECON we saw it from the other side: the battery is what let us use the sunshine that did not fit in a 50 kW connection.

That said, a flexible permit is a permit with conditions. If your battery is designed to charge when electricity is cheap and the distribution company limits you precisely in those hours, the business case changes. Check that before you sign.

Who cannot apply

Supplies that must be guaranteed are excluded: urban and industrial development plans required to meet electrification levels, essential supplies and installations that need a backup supply.

Beyond the list, the underlying principle is clear: flexibility is cheap for those who can stop for an hour and expensive for those who cannot. A logistics centre can. A cold store can. So can a sports centre. A factory running around the clock cannot, and for it a flexible permit would be paying a penalty under another name.

What is still missing

The rule is approved; now it has to be put into practice.

Distribution companies and the system operator have six months (twelve for type 2) to publish how instructions and data will be exchanged. They have twelve months to set how power management equipment is qualified and tested. And the flexible capacity maps are yet to be published. In this sector there are often years between the Official Gazette and the transformer.

Even so, this change is different. It is not about building more grid, but about using the grid we already have in a different way.

What comes next

The grid is not decongested by digging alone. It is also decongested by measuring, operating and shifting consumption to the hours when the cable is free.

For years we have asked people to produce energy. Now we will also ask them to choose when they consume, and those who do it well will be able to get paid for it. If demand becomes a resource, the next question is who can sell it to the system. Until now, your retailer. Since Royal Decree 88/2026, an independent aggregator too. That is what the next link is about.

Keep reading

Main sources

• Resolución de 31 de julio de 2026, de la CNMC, por la que se establecen los permisos de acceso flexibles de la demanda de energía eléctrica — BOE, 11/08/2026.
• La CNMC aprueba la regulación que facilitará la conexión de nuevos consumidores mediante permisos de acceso flexible — CNMC, 11/08/2026.
• Redes de distribución, de freno a motor de la electrificación — Fundación Renovables, September 2026.

About the author

Juan Sacri is an engineer, cooperativist and co-founder of Sapiens Energía —a non-profit cooperative that has supported more than 90 energy communities across Spain— and of AVACE, the Valencian Association of Energy Communities.