Spain is experiencing a sustained surge in electricity self-consumption, driven by a wave of historic expansion. The deployment of new facilities far exceeded forecasts last year, spurred by energy-price pressures and European-backed funding. The year 2022 closed with an unrestrained boom in both private residences and corporate sites, doubling the footprint of self-consumption in Spain in terms of the number of plants and total installed capacity.
Renewable energy companies rode the wave, rolling out self-consumption setups across the country as 2022 unfolded. A total of 2,650 megawatts of capacity was added, doubling the cumulative figure to more than 5,200 MW. Across Spain, tens of thousands of homes and thousands of businesses have installed solar panels to generate at least part of their own electricity, cutting bills during periods of volatility.
Yet amid this record growth, industry voices warn of important gaps and constraints. Legal hurdles and current technical limits cause substantial losses, letting large quantities of inexpensive energy slip away during a time of crisis.
New renewable energy sources could save Spanish consumers billions this year
Beyond meeting a portion of household or company demand, these facilities can also inject surplus power into the grid to earn supplementary income. However, grid integration problems have created a funding gap exceeding 300 million euros in recent years. In practice, electricity is drawn but not always used to meet demand in the national system.
20 percent of potential energy is wasted
Over the past year, all self-consumption plants in the country produced a combined 4,564 gigawatt hours of electricity, a 52 percent increase from the previous year. That amount accounts for about 1.8 percent of Spain’s total electricity demand for the year, according to data from Red Eléctrica, which manages the Spanish electricity system.
APPA Renovables, the employers’ association representing renewable sectors and its self-consumption division, notes that active self-consumption facilities wasted about one fifth of their production potential, estimating an annual loss of up to 1,067 GWh during the crisis year. In several cases, regulatory barriers and logistics hinder the transfer of surplus energy to the grid, while some equipment limitations complicate the reverse flow from low to high voltage for grid discharge. Had these clamps not existed, self-consumption could have met 2.2 percent of national demand instead of 1.8 percent last year.
APPA’s calculations also point to a waste of renewable energy valued at around 160 million euros for the year. The inability to evacuate this energy through grids has contributed to a cumulative gap exceeding 274 million euros since 2015, a figure that grows with each passing year.
Network integration challenges
Self-consumption faces a significant hurdle from the barriers distribution companies place to secure grid connection points. Permits are issued on a discretionary basis, with long wait times and occasional placements far from production facilities. The CNMC has begun investigating potential intentional barriers to accessing the self-consumption network, while regulators assess how to streamline access and prevent undue delays.
Renewables leaders note that current rules do not readily support the injection of surplus energy due to grid capacity limits and access difficulties. The main issue, says José María González Moya, managing director of APPA, is that many locales simply lack the capacity to discharge energy, preventing self-consumers from benefiting fully.
Metering points and a path to higher efficiency
Projects above 15 kilowatts must obtain permission from distribution network managers to discharge and balance excess power. Generators under 100 kilowatts can drift into the residential-scale category, while larger facilities face the added complexity of becoming wholesale players to discharge energy. As one expert puts it, simplifying grid access could let those plants feed energy at zero price, benefiting all consumers.
Some industrial players respond by establishing smaller sub-installations to sidestep regulatory limits while still offsetting consumption. Others expand capacity to maximize returns, yet grid drainage limitations and capacity caps restrict the ability to push excess energy into the system.
In parallel, industry voices warn that many facilities waste renewable output when production stops, such as on weekends or holidays, or when operations pause. This underlines the need for better alignment between generation, storage options, and grid access to minimize waste and maximize value for end users.