The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (Miteco) has predicted this Tuesday a "change in trend" with greater "growth" in the field of energy self-consumption once the effects of the war in Iran dissipate, and has advanced that the new royal decree could be ready during the summer of 2026.
"There may be a change in trend in the sector, starting growth, because we have cyclical issues such as the context of the energy crisis as a result of the war conflict and the increasing presence of large industrial projects that, if we eliminate identified barriers they might have, can be boosted even further, because they are really worthwhile," affirmed the Deputy Director General of Electrical Energy of Miteco, Carlos Redondo.
In the "VI Self-Consumption Summit", organized by the Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF), Redondo has indicated that the Ministry trusts in having "as soon as possible", "for this summer", the new royal decree on self-consumption.
In said regulatory text, "we are going to improve certain areas that the sector was asking us for, such as systems to incentivize collective self-consumption with applicable and simple schemes and keys to develop distributed storage as a new model," he/she/it has detailed, according to a note disseminated by UNEF.
Alongside these modifications, the employers' association has asked to incorporate other actions, among them the simplification of administrative procedures, the extension of simplified compensation to installations with up to 500 kW of access capacity and the exemption from access and connection permits for those plants that inject less than 15 kW into the grid, even if their installed power is higher.
The meeting, which has brought together representatives from administrations, companies, and specialists from the energy sector, has positively assessed the measures included in Royal Decree-Law 7/2026, "by which the Comprehensive Plan for Response to the Crisis in the Middle East is approved", which incorporates the figure of the self-consumption manager, extends the distance for sharing energy up to 5 km, and contemplates new tax deductions for renewable and energy efficiency projects.
However, the urgency of moving forward with the specific royal decree on self-consumption and distributed storage has also been highlighted, which, in the sector's opinion, must incorporate "key" elements such as shared surpluses, improvements in collective self-consumption and the definitive boost to distributed storage.
Likewise, the summit has coincided in "the need to advance towards a more flexible electricity system", where demand can adapt to grid congestions and to the availability of renewable resources, while at the same time emphasizing the relevance of guaranteeing the quality and safety of the facilities.
"Self-consumption is a key piece of the energy transition in Spain, which reinforces our energy sovereignty and security of supply. We have the technology, the knowledge, and the commitment of the sector. The objective we all have now is to consolidate demand in a stable and sustainable way," stated the president of UNEF, Rafael Benjumea.
Along these lines, he has stressed that it is essential that "companies know what market size they have and consolidate our industry." "Now we need regulatory update and ambition to accelerate its deployment," Benjumea added during his speech.
Bet on industrial and collective self-consumption
The sector has pointed to industrial self-consumption as "one of the strategic pillars", has reiterated the importance of strengthening collective self-consumption and energy communities and has defended the creation of new business models, emphasizing the electrification of final consumption as "one of the great pending challenges of the energy transition".
On the other hand, the deputy sub-director in the Energy directorate of the CNMC, María González de Perosanz, has presented the new requirements for the platforms for the integral management of self-consumption files, with the aim of providing more transparency, homogeneity and speed to the system, and has announced that the conclusions of this work will be gathered in a public hearing process whose approval is foreseen for the second quarter of 2026.