Self-consumption connections accelerate in Spain

Endesa has reported its subsidiary e-distribución activating more self-consumption installations in the first half of 2023 than in all of 2022.

At the end of June, more than 200,000 individual and collective self-consumption installations were operating on its network, Endesa has reported.

This follows the connection of 85,000 self-consumption units in that six-month period, compared with 81,800 in all of 2022 and almost 3.5 times more than in 2021.

In particular there was a notable tripling in the number of collective installations, increasing from 161 at the start of 2023 to 488 by the end of June.

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Such installations have been the last to join the self-consumption ‘boom’ in Spain, Endesa has indicated, noting they are expected to continue to increase significantly in the future, with almost three-quarters of family homes of this type wanting to participate.

For example, the almost 500 collective installations are comprised of more than 2,400 customers.

The more than 200,000 self-consumption installations in Endesa’s network – which takes in Andalusia, Extremadura, Catalonia, Aragon, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands – have a combined installed capacity of 3GW.

The majority, almost 99%, are with surpluses that are fed into the network.

By area, most are in Andalusia and Catalonia, which concentrate 84% of the active self-consumption with close to 90,400 and 78,000 units respectively.

In the Canary Islands, the number is close to 10,000, having doubled over the first half of 2023, while in Aragón the number is close to 7,400 following an 84% increase and in the Balearic Islands it is close to 11,670 after an 81% increase.

Endesa anticipates that given the current rate, the number of activated self-consumption connections will reach 270,000 by the end of 2023.

To expedite the procedure, which is otherwise complex, particularly for collective installations, Endesa reports having proposed changes to the regulator with the aim to complete contracts within a time of 10 days as well as initiating improvements in its communications procedures.