The need to spend less and greater awareness lead to embracing the energy transition. In this change in trend, solar panels are one of the favorite options. The interest exists and the facilities grow year after year, although one of the great doubts is in the cost and efficiency of the investment.
According to Montserrat Lavilla, marketing director of the solar panel installation company SotySolar, the price of an installation of about 6 or 8 panels for a home ranges between 6,000 and 7,000 euros, although it is advisable to add a battery, with which the price rises. up to between 9,000 and 10,000 euros. Lavilla assures that with the plates the electricity bill can be reduced between 50% and 90%. In the case of an invoice of 100 euros, it goes down to 20 or even 10 euros.
In addition, you can receive public aid of up to 80% both to install plates and batteries, subsidies of up to 40% and IBI bonuses, which in this case depend on each municipality.
Regarding IBI bonuses, from the Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF) they warn that in the most populated areas such as Madrid or Barcelona they will be increasingly limited to shared facilities due to the large number of applicants. They also warn that the budget for Next Generation aid, from European funds and managed by the autonomous communities, has been exhausted in some communities such as Catalonia.
Regarding the deductions in personal income tax for the installation of panels, at SotySolar they remind that 20% can be deducted if the requirement that the sum of the indicators of heating and cooling demand of the Energy Efficiency Certificate is reduced to minus 7% after installation.
The deduction can reach 40% if it affects only the declarant's home and 60% if it affects an entire building and the demand, provided that the following requirements are met: that the energy rating obtains a class A or B and that the energy consumption of the total house is reduced by at least 30%.
“To install a solar panel on a flat, you need the authorization of the community of neighbors. The price of the installation does not change depending on whether it is carried out in a house or in an apartment, it varies according to the difficulty of access to the roof”, explains Lavilla.
The installation in a flat can be individual or communal. In the event that the solar panels generate electricity for a group of residents, either only for the common areas of the block or for their homes, we speak of shared self-consumption. "By distributing the production among the neighbors, we are able to make a much more efficient use of the installation, greatly increasing self-consumption and reducing the dumping of surpluses with respect to an installation in a single-family home," says José Carlos Díaz Lacaci, general director of the company of photovoltaic installations Powen.
Installations in individual homes also have a great advantage: "We will be able to start enjoying the installation and saving from the moment the installation is finished, while in a community installation we will have to wait for the plant to be legalized," he points out.
The UNEF spokesperson in Catalonia, Helena Badger, recalls that if the facility is shared by law, an additional accountant is required to distribute the cost among the associated residents. According to Badger, although the price of the panels is the same anywhere in Spain, there are areas where it is used more than others because there is more solar radiation, such as in the south.
If you take the step, SotySolar recommends choosing the company with which the solar panels are installed, looking for personalized offers depending on where you live and your electricity bill. The recommendations of the UNEF go through betting on security, since it ensures that a correct installation can last between 25 and 30 years, and by monitoring the equipment to be able to verify what the plates generate with precision.
