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Make your contribution to clean energy. We will explain how to set up your own self-consumption solar installation to generate your energy and benefit from all the advantages.
This is the ability to produce your own electricity through solar panels and in the same place where you are going to consume it, in your home or business.
Self-consumption in Spain is regulated by Royal Decrees 15/2018 and 244/2019, which establish the administrative, technical and economic conditions for the self-consumption of electricity. In addition, it simplifies both its individual and collective forms, as well as the mechanism for compensating surplus energy:
It is much easier than you would think to equip yourself with a photovoltaic self-consumption installation. All you really need is:
But to get the most out of your photovoltaic self-consumption installation, you could also add the following:
There are a number of types of regulated self-consumption: Self-consumption can be individual or collective, with or without surpluses, and whether or not it is covered by the simplified compensation mechanism.
With this option, your installation has a zero-injection device, which prevents non-self-consumed energy from being injected into the power grid.
This is often complemented by installing a battery storage system to maximise the use of the energy produced.
In contrast to the previous case, the energy you produce anddo not consume will be injected into the transport and distribution grid to be used by other consumers. The energy injected is called surplus energy.
There are two ways you can take advantage of it:
1. You can opt for the 'simplified compensation for surplus in bill' option, which means that your energy supplier will compensate you for the surplus in the form of savings on your electricity bill, month by month. The amount you save depends on the kWh fed back into the grid and the compensation price applied.
Last resort suppliers (those offering regulated rates) are legally required to define the economic value of those surpluses. In the case of free-market suppliers, the compensation depends on the terms you agree upon with the supplier.
However, this amount cannot exceed the so-called compensation limit, which means that you cannot be compensated financially for your kWh fed back into the grid at a value higher than that of the kWh you have consumed from the grid.
There are some prerequisites to be able to choose this option:
2. Opting for self-consumption with surpluses without simplified compensation allows you to sell all your surpluses without a monthly limit. However, it means registering as an energy producer and dealing with fiscal and administrative procedures, because it is classed as an economic activity.
In this case, you will receive the corresponding economic compensation for the surplus energy fed back into the grid according to the regulations in force.
If you are interested in self-consumption, there are two possible situations:
It is a complex process, but can be summarised as follows:
The sun's rays strike panels composed of a series of semiconductor materials that transform the energy they receive into electricity for your home. This transformation is achieved by what are known as solar cells, which are small cells of crystalline silicon or gallium arsenide and this is what solar panels as we know them consist of.
These solar cells are mixed with other chemical components like phosphorus and boron to form a group charged with negative electrons and another group with positive electrons. When these are exposed to the sun, the photons move the electrons, this movement is responsible for creating the energy for solar self-consumption.
The main difference is the savings, self-consumption with surpluses enables you to inject the surplus you have left over into the network, which is compensated with discounts in your electricity bill. Consumption without surpluses has an anti-injection system that prevents the unconsumed energy from being injected into the distribution network. What you can do is to install your own storage system with which you can make the most of the energy produced.
There are currently three regulated categories of self-consumption: