The CAE system in Spain mobilised investments worth €411 million in 2024, according to a study by CREARA in collaboration with Banca March 20 June 2025 Category: General The CAE market in Spain reached €224 million, achieving annual energy savings of 1,644 GWh. The average price received by CAE beneficiaries in 2024 stood at €136/MWh. According to the report, the investments in energy efficiency mobilised by the CAE market in 2024 achieved an average coverage of 49%. The CAE market shows strong growth: it is expected to at least double in 2025 compared to 2024, with an average price increase of €14/MWh. Banca March, through its Special Project Finance Unit, supports its clients in their transition towards more sustainable business models. Banca March, a financial institution specialising in private banking and corporate advisory services, and CREARA Energy Experts, a consultancy firm specialising in energy efficiency and one of the first to be accredited as a Delegated Entity in the CAE System created by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), have jointly presented the findings of the Analysis of the CAE Market in Spain 2024. According to the study, the Energy Savings Certificates (CAE) market in Spain reached €224 million, driving energy-saving investments worth €411 million, which represented an average coverage rate of nearly 50%. The 1,644 GWh of annual savings achieved will prevent the emission of 286,000 tonnes of CO₂. The report is available at www.estudiodemercadocaes.es. The average price received by CAE beneficiaries in 2024 stood at €136/MWh, but with a clear trend: larger projects received higher incentives, while smaller projects saw lower prices. Among the most widely used technologies were those related to energy recovery, such as heat recovery, which accounted for 23% of the recorded savings. The remaining volume was distributed among other measures such as the replacement of equipment with more efficient alternatives and improved furnace efficiency, which contributed 18% and 17% of the savings, respectively. The report also highlights the key role of the industrial sector, which accounted for 68% of the certificates generated, partly due to its greater knowledge and technical capacity to identify and implement eligible projects. This reinforces the need to continue promoting training and awareness in other sectors to broaden the system’s reach. Forecasts for 2025 are also positive, with expectations that the market volume will at least double and that the average price of CAEs will rise by around €14/MWh. This would further consolidate the system as an effective mechanism for channelling private investment into the energy transition. Despite these positive results, the analysis also identifies challenges that should be addressed to support the system’s maturity and consolidation. These include the heterogeneity in the approach of regional authorities — with varying criteria and poorly defined processes in some regions — the need to review and improve certain standard measure technical sheets, the emergence of bottlenecks, and potential regulatory changes. Javier Alcántara, Head of the Special Financing Projects Unit at Banca March, stated: “The CAE system represents an opportunity for our clients to monetise their investment efforts in energy efficiency. For Banca March, it complements our value proposition and advisory services, allowing us to continue supporting our clients in their transition towards more sustainable business models by providing tailored strategic advice in collaboration with other business segments and specialist units across the Bank”. David Pérez, partner at CREARA Energy Experts, noted: “This report sheds light on the Spanish CAE market thanks to its analytical depth and the combination of all available information sources, both qualitative and quantitative. The study shows that while the CAE market is still in its early stages, the system is already proving its ability and agility to mobilise significant investment towards energy savings. Our analysis suggests that in 2025 and in the years to come, the market will reach volumes far greater than those seen so far”. The Energy Savings Certificate (CAE) System, launched just over a year ago by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITERD), promotes investment in energy efficiency in Spain. It enables companies, primarily in the industrial and services sectors, to recover a significant portion of their investment in this area. Businesses that have carried out or plan to carry out measures to reduce their final energy consumption can transfer these energy savings to be converted into CAEs, thereby generating an additional source of income they were not initially counting on.