Spain posts 30% boost in self-consumption solar PV installs

• Rising domestic need for solar aided Spain reach 596MW of brand-new self-consumption PV setups last year, according to data from profession organization UNEF.

This number represents a 30% rise on 2019, as both regional incentives for new setups and a reduction in administrative obstacles helped drive the development of distributed solar in the nation. Of the brand-new setups, it is approximated that just 2% are not linked to Spain's grid.

While the majority self-consumption PV capacity sets up, 56%, originated from the commercial field and also 23% from the business field, it was the residential segment that saw "extraordinary growth" last year, reaching 19% of self-consumption mounts - up nine percent factors from numbers posted in 2019. UNEF said this residential increase is partly thanks to outreach campaigns made by firms.

José Donoso, director general of UNEF, claimed: "In the case of single-family homes in a warm area, an installment without batteries is an investment that can be recouped in nine or ten years."

Among the organization's concerns is an administrative simplification with regards to self-consumption solar projects in Spain. Last year, 8 of the nation's 17 areas were stated to have removed the requirement for structure licenses for rooftop PV installments, and also it is wished other areas will soon join them.

A current research from SolarPower Europe revealed that Spain set up the third-highest amount of PV ability in 2020, at 2.6 GW, trailing just Germany and the Netherlands. With the majority of last year's installations backed by power purchase contracts, the profession body said Spain is "possibly the world's largest market for subsidy-free solar".