Installing solar panels for self-consumption has stopped being fashionable in Spain, at least not with the same intensity as last year. According to the latest data published this Thursday by the Spanish Photovoltaic Union, the installation of solar panels in the residential segment closed 2023 with a total of 372 new megawatts, which represents a decrease of 54% compared to the new megawatts that were installed in 2023.
One of the main reasons that has caused the brake is, according to Unef, “the loss of perception of high prices by citizens.” Although electricity prices have not recovered pre-crisis levels, they are very far from the 300 euros MWh that they reached in August 2023. The tension and daily attention to their evolution are also very far away, which means that Pressure to install savings plates has decreased in an environment where the financial health of families has deteriorated.
“The loss of the perception of high energy prices by citizens, as well as the reduction in the purchasing power of families due to the increase in inflation, together with the exhaustion of the aid contemplated within the Recovery Funds motivate these data,” says José Donoso, general director of Unef.
To a lesser extent than in domestic installations, the slowdown has been noticed throughout the self-consumption sector. During 2023, 1,706 MW were installed, compared to the 2,507 MW installed the previous year, 32% less. In the commercial sector, 291 MW were installed, 42% less, while the industry showed somewhat more dynamism with the installation of 1,020 new MW, 13% less than those installed in 2023.
This trend is explained because the comparison is made with “a peak year in self-consumption, which in the previous two years saw its growth driven by a temporary situation, motivated by the high energy prices generated as a result of the geopolitical crisis in Ukraine. and for the aid contemplated for self-consumption within the Covid-19 Recovery Funds,” they say from Unef.
In any case, the growth of self-consumption continues and Spain continues to increase its park of this type of installations, which is already close to the record figure of 7 GW installed.
