"We decided to put solar panels in the middle of the pandemic"

“With the pandemic we have been more at home and we have thought about things that you normally do not stop to think about, such as the electricity bill.

So we decided to put solar panels ”, explains Ángel Abraham, a 47-year-old computer scientist who lives in Pozuelo (Madrid).

“We teleworked, we were at home, so it seemed like a good time to do the installation,” he continues.

In the middle of the health crisis, Abraham and his brother put photovoltaic panels in their chalets, located on the same plot, to produce their own electricity and reduce their electricity bill.

His case is increasingly common: in 2020 almost 600 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic power were installed for self-consumption in Spain, an increase of 30% over the previous year.

Although industrial and commercial facilities continue to be the majority, domestic self-consumption has doubled its importance in a difficult year;

the sector talks about

boom,

but asks for more facilities for individuals, while the Government will launch a National Self-Consumption Strategy in the coming months to help this explosion consolidate.

José Donoso, director of the Spanish Photovoltaic Union (Unef), which brings together the sector, explains: “The coronavirus has had a paradoxical effect: if normally the domestic savings rate was 8%, this year it has exceeded 30%, it is In other words, many households have increased their disposable income.

A significant number of people have decided to use these savings to install photovoltaic panels.

People have thought that their savings are better on the roof of their house than in the bank, which is also not profitable.

The panels can cost the same as a family vacation. "

The boost comes from the government decree that repealed the tax on the sun in 2018 - which prevented the development of this type of energy - and guaranteed to boost self-consumption and that consumers have the right to become self-consumers of renewable energy.

The decree was later developed in 2019. “This regulation has led to a significant rebound in 2020 in self-consumption facilities in homes.

Furthermore, technology is getting cheaper and cheaper, the numbers are going out ”, points out Laura Feijóo, from Ecooo, a non-profit social company that aims to change the energy model towards a greener one and that has already promoted some 500 installations throughout Spain .

"For about 4,300 euros you can put plates in a home and reduce between 40% and 60% the electricity bill," he adds.

Manel Sastre, from Som Energia, a cooperative that promotes collective purchases of solar panels to lower their cost, agrees: “We are in the midst

of a self-consumption

boom

.

In fact, the sector suffers to respond to all the interest that is being given ”.

Joan Vila, 35 years old and resident of Molins de Rei (Barcelona), participated in one of these purchases last year.

“I installed the plates mainly for environmental awareness.

The most efficient thing is that you produce your own energy ”, he explains.

He and his partner invested about 4,000 euros, which they will pay off in about 15 years.

Som Energia has carried out 28 of these initiatives in which almost 2,000 people have registered, half of which already have the plates in their homes.

About 5,000 euros of investment

The installation companies cannot cope either.

"Until last year we only did industrial installations, but in 2020 we saw a significant increase in residential and we launched ourselves into that sector," says Remigio Abad, director of Powen.

“There has been a very important increase that has been noticed especially from June, after the confinement.

Last year we installed plates in about 120 homes ”, he continues.

In his case, the cost is around 5,000 euros, "and it pays for itself in about seven or eight years."

However, it is not all good news.

"We have not advanced enough to make this a standard practice," complains Fernando Ferrando, president of the Fundación Renovables, which promotes these energies.

In fact, while in Germany and Belgium it is very common to see plates on homes, in Spain it is still the exception.

“We continue to have difficulties in terms of authorization of facilities: there are municipalities that have many demands.

We have asked that in installations of less than 4 kilowatts (kw) it is the same as buying an electrical appliance ”, he continues.

José Donoso, from Unef, puts another downside: “Only eight autonomous communities - Andalusia, the Balearic Islands, Castilla y León, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Extremadura, Galicia and the Canary Islands - exempt self-consumption projects from requesting a building license.

That is something that is not requested in any neighboring country ”.

And it continues: "In the electricity tariff, the fixed component is very high, 39%, with which there is less incentive to save."

"In 2021 we are going to lower the fixed part of the bill", answers Joan Groizard, president of the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE).

The representative of this body dependent on the Ministry for Ecological Transition considers that "the growth of self-consumption is very good news in a very complicated year", and advances that the department is working on a National Self-consumption Strategy that it will present in the coming months and that it will include new measures to promote this practice.

Dedicating part of the European funds to promote self-consumption both in homes and in companies is also being studied.

Another of the complaints of the sector refers to the collective facilities, that is, in buildings with several neighbors, which do not finish taking off.

"We have asked for dynamic coefficients, that is, that the energy produced can be exchanged between homes," says the representative of the Fundación Renovables.

The president of IDAE is committed to moving towards that system, although there is still no date for it.

In addition, in an individual installation, it is automatic that the surplus energy produced is sold to the electricity company - prior agreement -, which reduces the bill;

On the other hand, in collective facilities this administrative process is more complex.

Despite these inconveniences, Lurdes Fernández and two other residents of Escuadra street in Madrid were encouraged to put plaques on their building with the help of Ecooo.

“We three neighbors agreed, the other five did not want to participate, but they agreed to let us do so,” explains Fernández, a 61-year-old yoga teacher, who invested 2,000 euros in her part of the installation, which entitles her to a 20% of the energy produced.

“It is a question of environmental awareness, we have to be sustainable, we cannot continue releasing emissions into the atmosphere.

Now I am more aware of the energy I use and I try to adapt my consumption to the hours of sunshine.

In addition, money is saved on the electricity bill ”.

In fact, the investment has an immediate economic return.

"I paid more than 100 euros a month and now I have started to pay less than 40," exemplifies Ángel Abraham, who invested about 4,000 euros in his license plates - his brother invested 6,000 because his house is bigger.

"We will recoup the investment in five to seven years, and the plates can last up to 30," he says, looking at the facility they share.

“If people knew what can be saved, many more would wear them.

Several neighbors have asked us and surely someone ends up putting them, "he confides.

134 photovoltaic plants rescued by individuals

The non-profit company Ecooo has rescued 134 failed photovoltaic plants in recent years.

"This is another tool that we use to change the energy model: we take photovoltaic plants for sale to the grid, we fix them and offer them to citizens as a possibility of investment in a real, green and fair economy", says Laura Feijóo, from Ecooo .

“Some were plants in disuse, others of investors that no longer obtained the profitability expected, or of companies that needed money.

From Ecooo we buy these plants and offer that citizens can participate and obtain returns of 4.5% per year, which, as they are, the interests of the banks are very interesting ”, he continues.

Those 134 plants "represent 6.75 megawatts of energy put into the hands of the people," adds Feijóo.

To find out the most important news on Climate and Environment from EL PAÍS, sign up here for our

weekly

newsletter

.

Follow the Climate and Environment section on

Twitter

and

Facebook