The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, through the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), has published this Wednesday the Collective Self-Consumption Guide. The manual, aimed at both professional sectors and the general public who want to save on their electricity bill, includes all the information that must be known when dealing with a collective self-consumption installation: modalities, energy distribution, administrative processing, connections, examples, etc.
To begin with, it should be noted that electricity self-consumption allows any person or company to produce and consume their own electricity by installing photovoltaic solar panels or other renewable generation systems in their home, premises or community of neighbors. The useful life of a photovoltaic module is approximately 30 years. During this period, the degradation it suffers is small and most manufacturers guarantee a linear power of more than 80% after 25 years.
Photovoltaic modules are mounted on support structures. In the case of sloping roofs, they are installed on light structures with the same inclination as the roof itself. On flat roofs, it can be carried out directly on the roof without inclination, on inclined structures equipped with counterweights that are placed without anchoring on the roof, or on elevated structures (canopies), always depending on the particular conditions of each building.
meters and maintenance
In an individual self-consumption, the meter will be the same one that the consumer already had (in grey), while in a collective a new net generation meter will be necessary. Photovoltaic installations require little maintenance, with annual electrical safety checks and, in the specific case of modules, it is only necessary to clean them in case of excessive dirt, due to birds or other reasons, since they self-clean with the rain water.
In this sense, “a consumer subject participates in collective self-consumption when he belongs to a group of several consumers who are fed, in an agreed manner, with electrical energy that comes from production facilities close to those of consumption and associated with them”. In other words, a collective self-consumption is formed when several consumers come together to share the energy generated by one or several facilities. In this way, the collective self-consumption facilities will be able to serve different consumers both in urban environments, grouping consumers in residential buildings, industrial estates, shopping centers and others, and in rural environments, grouping consumers from small urban centers and rural areas.
It is important to highlight that in a collective self-consumption it is necessary that all the associated consumers belong to the same modality. Likewise, a consumer can be associated with several different collective self-consumption facilities, with different distribution percentages, but they must all be associated with the same modality. Therefore, a consumer could have individual self-consumption and, simultaneously, be part of a collective self-consumption, provided that in both cases it has the same modality.
In addition, all collective self-consumption must have metering equipment that records the net generation of the installation. In this way, the associated consumers will keep their consumption measurement equipment, whether owned or rented.
Each consumer will maintain the retailer of their choice, so it is not necessary for all associated consumers to be with the same company. To carry out collective self-consumption, a renewable energy community may be established as long as the necessary requirements are met. Any other duly authorized agent can also be the representative, act as a self-consumption Manager (figure that will be explained later).
In the case of wanting to install storage systems for collective self-consumption, these are directly linked to generation. The batteries will be charged while the installation is on. When it is necessary to unload the storage, the energy will be distributed among the consumers with the same distribution agreement that will be applied to the energy generated instantly and will be reflected in the net generation meter. The amount of energy generated by the installation does not change, with or without storage, the installation generates the energy it is capable of depending on its power. The effect of storage is to lengthen the time that it can be self-consumed, that is, the moment in which self-generated energy is used is delayed.
Collective self-consumption without surplus
In collective self-consumption without surpluses, there will be several associated consumers and the generating facility will have an anti-discharge system that prevents the transfer of energy to the network at all times. The ownership of the generation facility and the anti-discharge mechanism jointly and severally shared by all consumers will be associated. Notwithstanding the agreements that the parties may sign, in these facilities the consumers will be responsible for possible non-compliance with the electrical system. In this typology, the energy generated is individualized, that is, it is distributed among the associated consumers according to the distribution coefficients that have been agreed, but energy is never physically transferred to the network. For this reason, the generating installation must be perfectly adjusted to the consumption of the associated consumers.
The generation in each hour will be at most the total consumption of the consumers connected downstream of the generation and at any moment only the energy that is being demanded will be generated without generating a surplus at any time.
Without surpluses of reception to compensation
This typology is exclusive to collective self-consumption and is designed for the modality in which all consumers are connected in interior red, which normally corresponds to collective self-consumption in multi-family residential buildings. The energy generated is individualized, that is, it is distributed among the associated consumers according to the distribution coefficients that have been agreed, but the energy that each consumer does not use instantly becomes surplus for that consumer, which is compensated according to the mechanism of simplified compensation.
With surpluses from reception to compensation
Here there will be several associated consumers and the energy that is not used instantly will be transferred to the network and subsequently compensated for each consumer individually. In buildings subject to the Horizontal Property Law (LPH) it is not allowed to make the connection directly to the internal network of any of the consumers associated with the collective self-consumption installation, therefore, in these cases the connection must be made on the premises link, which connects the border point with the distribution company and the individual facilities of each consumer; This point is also called meter centralization and is usually located in the meter room of the building. For self-consumption purposes, the connection facilities are considered to have a red interior.
With surpluses not eligible for compensation
The energy that is not used instantly will be transferred to the network and will be sold in the electricity market. Ownership of the generation facility rests with the producer so that the surpluses belong to him and it is the producer who, through a representative or by any other market participation mechanism, will sell said surpluses receiving the corresponding amount for them. . The producer must take charge of the fiscal and tributary obligations that arise from said sale, like any other producer of electrical energy.
A fundamental part of the guide are the different documents that must be provided in the process (see section 4). Collective self-consumption must follow the same administrative and authorization process as individual self-consumption. Before starting the process, in the case of collective self-consumption in buildings subject to the Horizontal Property Law, you must have the authorization of the owners’ meeting. From that moment on, the processing follows the same steps as individual self-consumption and only came from the chosen modality and the power of the installation.
social bonds
Ecological Transition highlights that a consumer receiving the social bonus can carry out a self-consumption installation and, therefore. It can also be part of a collective self-consumption.
