According to data estimated by the Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF), the association of the photovoltaic sector in Spain, 1,182 MW of photovoltaic self-consumption were installed in 2024, thus continuing the growth of these solutions, which already accumulate 8,137 MW in our country. UNEF estimates that 51,306 new homes installed photovoltaic self-consumption last year.
However, these data also show a 31% drop compared to the previous year.
According to the data collected by the majority sector association, industrial self-consumption was the area with the greatest new installed capacity in 2024, with 674 MW, of which 578 MW correspond to industrial projects of more than 100 KW and 96 MW to industrial projects of less than 100 KW, although a 34% reduction in installed capacity is observed in the industrial sector compared to 2023.
UNEF attributes this fall in the industrial segment to the long period of maturation of these projects in relation to other smaller ones, such as residential ones, which means that the reduction that was observed last year in residential, now stands out more intensely in the industrial sector.
As for the rest of the sectors, 207 MW of self-consumption are recorded in the commercial sector and 275 MW in the residential sector.
UNEF attributes this slowdown in the implementation of self-consumption solutions to the disappearance of the two fundamental drivers that exceptionally encouraged the increase in previous years, such as the very high energy prices and the subsidies included in the Next Generation program.
“Self-consumption continues to be a highly profitable option for industry, businesses and homes, since electricity continues to register high prices compared to the period before the crisis. However, the perception that this is the case has disappeared among consumers, which, together with the end of the subsidy program, has reduced the urgency shown in previous years by consumers to look for alternatives that involve energy savings,” said José Donoso, general director of UNEF.
New measures to achieve the PNIEC
“Therefore, it is necessary to implement new measures to reach the 19 GW of self-consumption by 2030 set by the National Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC),” adds Donoso. An objective that would require the installation of an average of 1.8 GW of self-consumption per year.
To alleviate this situation of decline in the pace of installation of photovoltaic self-consumption, the sector believes it is essential to strengthen awareness and information for the general public about alternatives to reduce energy costs, among which self-consumption stands out.
In addition, it proposes several measures transferred to national and regional institutions, such as exemption from the access and connection permit for any installation that, even with greater installed power, does not inject more than 15 kW into the network, for low voltage installations, or up to 100 kW for medium and high voltage installations.
They also ask to extend the possibility of simplified processing of the current 100kW of installed power to the 450kW of access capacity, which would allow the latter to benefit from the simplified compensation mechanism, the possibility of modifying the access contract directly by the distributors based on the information sent by the Autonomous Communities or reviewing the surplus remuneration policy to make it more attractive. They also request to include self-consumption combined with heat pumps or storage as standardized actions for obtaining energy saving certificates (CAEs).
UNEF considers it necessary for those Autonomous Communities that do not yet exempt self-consumption plants of less than 500 kW from requesting the Prior Administrative and Construction Authorization (Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Aragón, Cataluña, Valencia, Baleares, Galicia, Cantabria, Canarias and La Rioja), to implement this exemption as soon as possible.
They also demand that the processing of pending subsidies from the Next Generation programme be accelerated by the Autonomous Communities. The sector points out that, if the objectives of the PNIEC are to be achieved, it would be necessary to replace the subsidies of this programme with other economic measures such as tax relief and the increase of the variable part of the electricity tariff. In this sense, UNEF advocates that the burden of tolls on the bill be increased in the variable part and reduced in the fixed part, so that energy savings are encouraged, in line with what happens in other European countries, such as France or Denmark.
The sector also requests that compliance with the activation deadlines for self-consumption by distributors be guaranteed through a change in the remuneration system.
On the other hand, UNEF sees an important opportunity in updating the regulatory framework of the energy sector.
