The year that is about to end will mark two records in the field of energy, both closely linked to each other. The first is the high energy prices (electricity and fuel), and the second, the large number of solar panels installed for self-consumption of electricity. At the end of the third quarter of 2022, the solar self-consumption installations carried out in those nine months in Catalonia doubled those of all of 2021 and, at the current rate, at the end of the year they could be up to three times more.
"The uncontrolled increase in energy prices is what has caused this commitment to self-consumption, which occurs above all in homes," says José Enrique Vázquez, president of the Grup de Gestors Energètics. The expert assures that a family can easily achieve savings of 30% by installing solar panels, while in companies in sectors such as fruit and vegetables, savings can be 70%.
Some electricity resellers are taking advantage of the self-consumption drive to attract customers with formulas such as the virtual battery or allowing them to benefit from the electricity generated in panels installed in second homes, which are usually single-family homes instead of flats. "When the remuneration for selling surplus self-produced electricity exceeds the total electricity bill, that excess money is saved in a virtual battery and compensated in another bill," explained Antoni Franquesa, from the retailer Factor Energia, in a recent conference organized by the Grup de Gestors Energètics.
Self-consumption has skyrocketed, but especially among individuals. "73.53% of the facilities are less than 5 kW, that is, they belong to the residential sector," says Manel Romero, partner of Sud Renovables and representative in Catalonia of the Spanish Photovoltaic Union (Unef). In this sense, the renewable energy installer laments the "administrative obstacles and the problems to access the connection points to the electricity grid, which slow down the construction of larger solar projects." These same difficulties are denounced by the wind sector and by promoters of biogas plants, among other installers of renewables. They also ensure that it is a problem that occurs especially in Catalonia, where administrative procedures "go on forever", according to different sources consulted.
One of the procedures that the Generalitat is choking on is the management of Next Generation funds for self-consumption facilities. "Now the notifications of resolution of the applications entered a year ago are arriving," says Romero. Sources from the Institut Català d'Energia (Icaen), the public entity in charge of managing said aid, acknowledge that they are overwhelmed by the large avalanche of requests received and report that they are hiring more staff to expedite the procedures.
In Catalonia, the large photovoltaic and wind farms have not just started up either, called to generate electricity when the nuclear power plants begin to close. A manifesto signed by a large and varied representation of voices from the scientific, environmental and economic world warns that to achieve a carbon-free Catalonia in 2050 it is not enough to promote photovoltaic installations on roofs and roofs, which would only allow generating 16% of electricity, but "it will be necessary to multiply by 33 the current capacity of solar and wind generation in Catalonia".
