Now open to public consultation, the 286-page draft—published two months beyond the EU’s end-2018 deadline—places wind as top generator to 2030.
It targets 50.3GW of cumulative wind capacity to meet 34% of electricity demand; up from 23.4GW and 19% today.
The planned new-capacity wind market averages at around 2.2GW annually, 2019-2030.
The draft NECP’s overall €236 billion investment requirement (most going to energy efficiency and transport measures) earmarks €30 billion for wind.
Solar PV capacity is set to multiply 7.5 times, from just under 5GW today to nearly 37GW in 2030, requiring an investment of €18.2 billion.
Plans for other renewables generators are more modest, solar thermal power growing most, from 2.3GW to 7.3GW.
National wind association AEE welcomed the draft as "coherent" with its own market-potential assessment.
AEE considers the wind objectives "feasible", given both remaining high wind speed sites and advanced turbine technologies for harvesting lower wind speeds.
The NECP was drafted by the governing PSOE socialist party, in power only since June 2018 on a wafer-thin majority.
However, with a snap general election set for 28 April, there are concerns the NECP could be kicked in to the long grass.
"Our energy policy is largely set beyond our borders," confided one AEE director. "There may be some eventual variations, sure; but the Paris Accord provides the cut and thrust," he insisted.
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