Spain expected to double new PV capacity for self-consumption and to install around 4000 MW of new PV capacity at utility-scale in 2019

The Spanish PV sector has entered in a new era of growth, thanks to the changes in self-consumption regulation and the definition of a National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) that includes ambitious – but feasible – targets for 2030.

The Spanish NECP proposes a reduction of between 20% and 21% of greenhouse gas emissions compared with 1990 levels. It plans to achieve up to 42% consumption of renewable energies out of the total energy use by the year 2030. As regards electricity generation, the percentage of renewables will stand at 74%. The country’s energy efficiency would improve by 39.6% by 2030.

Within this positive framework, and by the end of 2019, the Spanish PV Union (UNEF), the national association of the PV industry, foresees the installation of 400 MW of new PV capacity for self-consumption, a figure that would double the new capacity installed in 2018 (235 MW). As for utility-scale projects, the new PV capacity could exceed 4000 MW by the end of the current year.

The new regulation for self-consumption, approved earlier this year, eliminates the economic and administrative barriers introduced by the previous regulation: Spanish citizens now have the opportunity to install solar panels on the rooftop of their house, company building and also share a collective PV installation with their neighbors and no sun-tax will be imposed on the energy they generate and use.

UNEF claims that the distributed generation will play an increasingly important role in the new energy model, thanks to the development of collective self-consumption, the integration of PV in buildings, the transition towards sustainable mobility, the digitalization of processes and the inclusion of storage solutions in PV projects.