- The total number of active self-consumption units in the networks controlled by e-distribución, Endesa's Networks subsidiary, is now almost 200,000.
Endesa's Networks subsidiary, e-distribución, has managed as many self-consumption contract activations in the first six months of the year as in all of 2022 and three times more than in 2021. With these figures we expect all records to be broken once again this year with regard to this technology in Spain. The 2022 financial year closed with 115,000 active installations in the Endesa network with an increase of 81,000 for the year as a whole. At the end of June the total will reach 200,000.
The 184,584 self-consumption installations active at the end of May in Endesa's distribution network, which operates as a distribution company in Andalusia, Extremadura, Catalonia, Aragón, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, represent a combined installed capacity of 2.9 GW and have enjoyed continuous growth over the last three years. In the first five months of this year, nearly 70,000 self-consumption were activated and the data for June maintain the growth trend.
Progress is such that in the month of February alone, when unprecedented activity was registered, Endesa activated almost as many self-consumption units as in all of 2021: 22,505.The context of high electricity prices resulting from the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, together with grants and assistance for the development of self-consumption, has led to a volume of growth that has obliged all the agents involved to adapt to the sharp increase in requests.
The distributors are directly involved in accessing the network and connections to it. This is a regulated procedure in which they operate following the principle of neutrality, managing processes in the same way for all agents without any discrimination.
Of the total number of self-consumption units managed by e-distribución, almost 99% involve self-consumption with surpluses, which feed any energy they have left over into the network and the remaining 1% are self-consumption without surpluses. By ownership status, the vast majority are individual self-consumption units (184,293), compared to 291 collective self-consumption units, although requests in the latter group have been increasing very significantly in recent months.
By region, Andalusia and Catalonia represent 86% of active self-consumption units in the area served by e-distribución and 76% of installed power. The Canary Islands and Aragón saw the largest increases compared to 2021, with increases of more than 400%, and the Balearic Islands one of the highest ratios, with one self-consumption installation for every 108 inhabitants.
The electricity distribution networks are immersed in a process of transformation and modernisation to develop their new role as facilitators in the energy transition process and making these objectives a reality, since they are the ones that will favour both the development of self-consumption and the integration of renewable energies, as well as the deployment of the electric car. This is why Endesa includes the development of the networks among its strategic priorities, with an investment of €2,600 million in the period 2023-2025. Three quarters of that amount will go to digitalising the grid and increasing quality and resilience, the rest will be used to increase the number of distributed generation installations.
"The growth in self-consumption figures in Spain shows that very important steps have been taken to enable consumers to play a leading role in energy transition, but we need to go further and simplify procedures to make this process increasingly easier and faster," said José Manuel Revuelta, Endesa's General Manager of Networks.
Improvements in the regulated procedure
The processing of self-consumption is a regulated process involving a number of agents and it can be a complex procedure for consumers, a complexity that may delay activations, especially in the collective self-consumption.
Even though the increase in the number of active self-consumption units shows that companies in the sector have made great efforts to respond to the explosion in demand, Endesa is still committed to working in two directions: Firstly, to introduce measures created by the regulator to simplify and streamline procedures; and, secondly, to improve communication with customers and agents acting within the process, to support them, make the processing easier and thus help meet the objectives for the development of self-consumption in Spain.
To access additional information on self-consumption and how to process it.
About Endesa
Endesa is a leading electricity company in Spain and the second largest in Portugal. The company is also the second largest gas operator in the Spanish market. Endesa operates an end-to-end electricity generation, distribution and marketing business. Through Endesa X, it also offers value-added services aimed at the electrification of energy usage in homes, companies, industries and Public Administrations. It is also the leading operator of charging stations in Spain through Endesa X Way, a business line dedicated entirely to electric mobility. Endesa is firmly committed to the United Nations SDGs and strongly supports the development of renewable energies through Enel Green Power España, the digitalisation of grids through e-distribución and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The Endesa Foundation is also active in CSR. Our workforce numbers around 9,260 employees. Endesa is a division of Enel, the largest electricity group in Europe.