RD 640/2026: new obligations for electrical networks and what changes for industry and renewables

Key data

Renewable energy developers and industries that have been waiting months for answers about network connection capacity now have a regulatory ally: the Royal Decree 640/2026, in force since July 31, 2026, requires distribution companies to publish their approved investment plans within a maximum period of one month from notification. This decree replaces the 2013 regulatory framework, which had become obsolete due to the acceleration of electrification and massive deployment of renewables.

The regulation also introduces an unprecedented participatory process: before developing the plans, distribution companies must gather connection needs from industry, regional administrations and municipalities. And to ensure that investment does not spike electricity bills, maximum limits on remunerated investment charged to the system, expressed as a percentage of GDP, are maintained in line with recommendations from the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).

What does this regulation establish?

RD 640/2026 articulates three major areas of change compared to the previous 2013 framework:

The decree affects both transport networks (Red Eléctrica de España / REE) and distribution networks (Endesa Distribución, Iberdrola Distribución, Naturgy, UFD, E-Distribución and others). For agents requesting access and connection to the network, the obligation to publish plans within one month represents a qualitative leap in transparency: until now, the lack of information about what investments were planned made it difficult to plan industrial and renewable projects.

Economic and operational impact

The impact of this regulation unfolds in two opposite directions depending on the type of actor:

• For distribution and transport companies: new administrative and transparency burdens. They must organize the participatory process, publish plans on schedule and prepare compliance reports with granular data on granted capacity, denied capacity and utilization level.
• For industry and renewable energy developers: substantial improvement in access to information. Knowing investment plans with a one-month margin from approval allows anticipating where capacity will be available and planning investments with greater certainty.
• For consumers: maintaining remunerated investment limits as a percentage of GDP acts as a firewall against tariff increases resulting from inefficient network investments.

Alignment with ACER recommendations on investment efficiency is relevant: it means that investments exceeding established limits cannot be passed on to the regulated tariff, which forces distribution companies to prioritize and justify every euro of planned investment.

Who does it affect?

• Electricity transport companies (Red Eléctrica de España / REE): required to publish plans and comply with transparency requirements and reports.
• Electricity distribution companies (Endesa Distribución, Iberdrola Distribución, Naturgy, UFD and others): must organize the participatory process, publish plans on schedule and prepare detailed compliance reports.
• Industry with network connection needs: can communicate its needs before plans are developed and access information published on schedule.
• Renewable energy developers: improve their planning capacity by knowing in advance where network capacity will be invested.
• Regional and municipal administrations: formally participate in the distribution investment planning process.
• Electricity consumers: indirectly benefit from the remunerated investment limit that contains the impact on bills.

Practical example

An industrial company in the agribusiness sector in Castilla-La Mancha wants to expand its plant and needs to increase its contracted power by 2 MW. Until now, it would request network access and wait months without knowing if the distribution company had planned any investment in the nearest substation.

With RD 640/2026, the process changes at two key moments:

1. Before the plan is developed: the company can communicate its connection need to the distribution company through the new participatory process, along with the municipality or regional government. This increases the probability that this investment will be included in the plan.
2. Once the plan is approved: the distribution company has a maximum of 1 month to publish it. The company can check if the substation in its area is included and plan its expansion with a specific time horizon.

Furthermore, if the company requests connection and is denied, that data will be reflected in compliance reports (denied capacity), which provides traceability and allows regulators to detect systematic bottlenecks in the network.

What should companies do now?

1. Distribution and transport companies: review internal procedures to ensure that approved investment plans are published within a maximum of 1 month from notification. Failing to meet this deadline constitutes a direct violation of the decree.
2. Distribution companies: design and implement the participatory process that allows industry, regional governments and municipalities to communicate connection needs before developing plans. Define channels, deadlines and criteria for incorporating the contributions received.
3. Distribution and transport companies: adapt information systems to generate compliance reports with the three required data: granted capacity, denied capacity and network utilization level.
4. Industry and renewable energy developers: identify when the participatory process opens for their reference distribution company and prepare documentation on their connection needs to communicate at that time.
5. Industry and renewable energy developers: monitor the publication of approved investment plans (available within 1 month from notification) to anticipate investment and location decisions.
6. Regional and municipal administrations: identify the participation channel enabled by each distribution company and coordinate with industrial parks and developers in their territory to communicate aggregated needs.

Official source

Consult complete regulation in official source

Notice: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific decisions, consult a qualified professional. Source: https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2026-16661