Spain and self-consumption energy

On April 5 this year, the Council of Ministers approved the Royal Decree by which the administrative, technical and economic conditions of self-consumption energy are regulated. Under these conditions, self-consumption energy has been made easy. Something that seemed impossible up until now, because of the very demanding conditions that were almost impossible to meet, has now been made possible.

Some changes regarding self-consumption

Although there has been no ‘sun tax’ since October last year and the procedures that prevented activity in smaller facilities had been made simpler, the procedure for all of them is now considerably simplified.

There is now the possibility of selling surplus energy, which is something that the electric companies would not allow before, implying that this sale of energy was not properly clarified. Now, not only is it possible to supply your own energy but any of your surplus energy has value in its own right.

This surplus energy is valued in two ways: 1) the most common and simplified compensation system; this works just like any other energy generating network 2) this allows compensation of all the energy that is left over to be used to cover any deficit created by using electricity from the public distribution grid network.

In the case of the simplified option, it must be said that it this is not a net balance because the price of this energy is not always the same as the price of the ‘deficit’ energy. Everything depends on the time and the seconds the electricity is used for, as well as various other aspects that are involved. These changes have also allowed the new concept of self-consumption ‘ex situ’ to be created.

This innovative concept consists of a shared solar panel system being installed a maximum of 500 metres away from the property which must have both the energy supply and the energy consumption connected at a low voltage. This option could be the perfect solution for cities in which sufficient space is scarce (especially on rooftops) that meet all the necessary requirements for the installation of solar panels.