More than 271,000 families and 23,000 companies opted in 2022 for the first time for photovoltaic self-consumption as a method to lower their electricity bills. Last year the GW was reached, doubling in a single year all the power installed up to that moment in Spain. The scale of electricity prices in recent years has been the best marketing campaign that this energy alternative could have, but even so, the Spanish numbers are still very far from the averages registered by other countries of the European Union, with many fewer hours of sunshine
"That is why the public administrations maintain a generous policy of subsidies, which in some cases can cover 80% of the total cost of the project," says Iván Cabezuela, founder of the self-consumption development company Samara.
From the sector it is insured only with the savings in the bill that a domestic photovoltaic installation implies, profitability is already achieved. In any case, for those who have a tighter budget, taking into account subsidies can be the definitive boost, although as in all public aid, they do not always arrive when expected. But let's go in parts.
“In the case of domestic installations, the normal thing is that it is delegated to the installation companies. The variety of aid is as great as there are town halls in Spain and those who usually do it are the ones who know the procedures best”, explains Comas. Another option is to go to each of the administrations to request them: town hall, autonomous community.
If you opt for the first option, the first step is to choose an installation company that has the appropriate authorizations and quality certificates. The Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF) has developed a quality seal with which it guarantees the professionalism and quality of the installers. At this time, it is true that there is a boom in demand and there may be non-specialized companies that venture to tackle jobs for which they either do not have experience or are not qualified.
“From UNEF, what we advise clients is not to seek to save a few euros in this installation. Profitability is assured and you have to think that these are facilities that should last about 25 years, so looking for quality and stability in the companies is key so that everything goes as expected and to solve any setback that may arise during the entire useful life of the plant. installation”, explains José Donoso, general director of UNEF.
A good company will help you through the aid application process. In any case, it should be known that the most generous in this field are the municipalities. More than half of the Spanish consistories apply discounts on Real Estate Tax (IBI).
“The conditions depend on each municipality. The normal thing is deductions in the tax of between 50% and 95% of its amount between three and up to five years ”, he explains. This is the case of For example, Barcelona capital and Mataró subsidize 50% of the tax for three years. In Sabadell and Terrassa, the same bonus is extended to five years.
“The associated bureaucracy is complex. They usually request a building permit, all the characteristics of the project and technical specifications that private clients do not usually control and therefore prefer to delegate. In the case of business facilities, there are those who may want to control the process ”, he explains.
In any case, getting the IBI deduction is relatively easy. At the regional level, the situation is complicated. One of the lines of the European Next Generation EU Funds allocates a total of 660 million euros for up to 600 euros per kilowatt of power installed for residential solar and 490 euros per kilowatt of power for the installation of batteries.
These funds are managed by the Autonomous Communities and are granted in chronological order of application. This is where the bottleneck is. The start-up of these funds has been uneven in the different CCAAs and in most of them it has lagged behind the promotion of the facilities. “They are a year late. That is why there are homes that, despite having requested them in a pertinent manner, have not yet received them, ”explains José Donoso.
In principle, this is just a hiccup. The requests enter the process in order and as the autonomous communities progress in the management they are paid. A setback to which is added that these funds are regionalized.
In other words, an amount has been assigned to each of the CCAAs and in some it has already been exhausted. This is the case of the Generalitat de Catalunya, its initial allocated budget was just over 34 million euros for self-consumption and storage facilities. The aid is granted in chronological order, says Manel Pujol.
“What you have to do is ask for help as soon as possible. In any case, if when the application arrives there are no funds, it goes to the waiting list for when the call is reopened. There are another 500 million expected. It is a lot of money and there should be no problem”, explains José Donoso. What happens is that while communities such as the Catalan one have exhausted their fund and have already requested the extension, others such as Madrid or Castilla León have exhausted their first allocation of funds but have not requested more.
What can happen to customers who are in those communities? “They will be left without aid if the regional governments do not decide to ask for the extensions. What is not foreseen is that those 500 million expansion remain deserted. If some territories want them to us, they will be distributed among the rest”, assures the general director of UNEF.
Much easier, on the other hand, it will be to access the third type of aid. Those contemplated by the Personal Income Tax (IRPF). “In this case, what must be taken into account is that the aid is linked to the energy improvement that the installation provides to the home. For this reason, the most important thing is to justify this modification, with an energy certificate before the installation and another after”, he warns
Depending on that modification, you can get:
