What energy lessons can the UK and Spain learn from each other?
Kelvin Ross
Posted on: 17 March 2026
In this Energy Transitions Podcast episode, experts from both countries swop renewable energy success stories and reveal they also face similar significant challenges.
The UK and Spain are clean energy success stories: both have delivered significant centralised and decentralised renewable energy capacity.
Spain is the poster child for solar, while the UK is a champion of offshore wind. Yet Spain has energy success stories which are the envy of the UK – and vice versa.
And both face a diverse range of challenges: some they share, others are unique.
So it was apt to unpack all of the above in an Energy Transitions Podcast episode, recorded at Enlit Europe in Bilbao, where an expert from each country joined Editor-in-Chief Kelvin Ross.
Sarah Merrick and Daniel Serrano both work for consultancy Ricardo – Merrick in the UK and Serrano in Spain.
In this podcast episode, you will hear:
- What needs to happen to make energy storage thrive;
- How the UK has the right mechanisms to develop fledging technologies;
- Why Spain has been so successful at deploying solar PV and network planning;
- What the “dream scenario” is for a flexible energy system;
- A reality check for national and EU energy targets;
- How to reform the electricity market while not deterring investment;
- Lessons learned from the Iberia blackout;
LISTEN NOW
Listen to previous episodes:
Should Europe place big bets on small modular reactors?
Why Latvia’s first grid-scale battery is a breakthrough for the Baltics
Read more on renewable energy in Spain:
Iberia blackout caused by domino effect of failings in milliseconds
Inside La Muela: Europe’s largest pumped storage hydropower plant
Read more about renewable energy in the UK:
How to accelerate offshore wind in the UK after AR7
Why the UK should harness its hidden geothermal potential
