This measure is part of one of the Government’s priorities, as explained by Teresa Ribera, the Minister for Ecological Transition.
The restrictions that were imposed years ago with the so-called “sun tax” on those who wanted to set up their own power plant based on renewable energy are coming to an end. Finally the Spanish government bets for renewable energies and energy self-consumption without putting more obstacles. The Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, has announced that the Government will eliminate the controversial “sun tax”, which taxes the development of photovoltaic solar energy and self-consumption in Spain through a draft bill.
The decision was reached thanks to an agreement between the three pillar institutions of the EU: the EU Parliament, which has played a key role in favour of renewable energy, the Commission and the Council. All of them consider this change of position on renewable energies as the biggest step towards a hopeful future for this type of platforms.
The text of the agreement specifies that the user has the right to be a self-consumer. Anyone who wishes to do so and meets certain requirements can install a solar panel or a windmill to generate electricity. In fact, you will be able to produce more energy than you need in your home to sell the surplus to the grid at market value.
This type of change will have a great impact on large electricity companies, which is why it has been decided that the new regulations will come into force in 2021 and thus give time to restructure and rethink the line of work of these companies. From then on, countries will have six months to adapt their regulations to these measures, and it will be at that time that our “sun tax” will have to be cancelled. And there is an important novelty that directly affects Spain: when exercising this right, there will be no surcharges, at least until 2026, regardless of the power installed.
The agreement is part of Europe’s new renewable energy targets: it has finally been established that 32% of the energy produced in the European Union in 2030 will come from renewable sources.
The new self-consumption rules will have certain exceptions. For example, national regulators will be able to assess whether exemptions put the electricity system at risk and introduce charges on such self-consumption if necessary. There will also be a levy on installations producing more than 25 kW, but never on those below that figure.
This regulation is also an interesting opportunity not only for individual self-consumption, but also for the collective: a community of neighbours can, for example, install (or order to install) solar panels in a building and all the neighbours can benefit from this production both for saving on their energy bill and for selling the surplus. It is therefore considered an ideal way to involve citizens in the energy transition.