Spain's Gas Gap: Off Market, On Grid

Spain's day-ahead power market is gradually decoupling from gas. As record levels of solar and wind output flood the merit order, combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGTs) are increasingly squeezed out of the day-ahead schedule for Spain, only to reappear in the final generation mix, dispatched out-of-merit as a security measure. Since the May 2025 blackout and the shift toward reinforced grid operation, this gap has widened sharply, with gas making its way back into the mix primarily through technical constraints rather than the spot market. This paper examines what that divergence means for wholesale prices, final consumer costs and the long-term outlook for Spain’s grid planning.

Download the paper to find out:

• Why gas disappears from the day-ahead schedule but not the real-time mix
• The implications for Spain’s solar boom and wholesale prices
• Where gas costs are still hitting industrial consumers
• How the Spanish grid operator plans to address the imbalance