Overview
European regulations introduce two concepts on what is understood as an energy community: a) Citizen Energy Community, CCE (EU Directive 2019/944, on common rules for the internal market in electricity, Art. 16 and, b) Renewable Energy Community, REC (EU Directive 2018/2001, promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources., Art. 22.
In Spain, Renewable Energy Communities as well as Citizen Energy Communities, are not fully regulated. RDL 23/2020 approving measures in energy and other areas for economic recovery, by amending several articles of Law 24/2013, partially transposed those Directives and, since then, it was adopted its definition in the national legal framework and entitled them to participate in auctions. Further regulation is expected to come and, also, to transpose the new Directive (EU) 2023/2413 into national Law.
As per RDL 23/2020, Renewable Energy Communities are established as legal entities based on open and voluntary participation, autonomous and effectively controlled by partners or members who are located in the vicinity of renewable energy projects owned and developed by such legal entities, whose partners or members are natural persons, SMEs or local authorities, including municipalities and whose primary purpose is to provide environmental, economic or social benefits to their partners or members or to the local areas where they operate, rather than financial gain. They may be based on installations of any energy vector, as long as it is renewable.
According to IDAE, the main activities that could be developed in an RE community are:
- Generating energy from renewable sources.
- Providing energy efficiency services (including, for example, building renovations).
- Supply, consumption, aggregation, and storage of energy and potentially distribution.
- Provision of electric vehicle charging and related services.
To support this, a specific program for granting aid to Community Transformation Offices (OTC) for the promotion and dynamization of energy communities was created and subsidies are regularly available under the program CE-Implementa (6th call recently closed) in the form of a non-refundable subsidy, which will be definitively received by the beneficiary once the execution of the project has been verified and the investment has been certified.
The Spanish legal system recognizes the right to self-produce and self-consume renewable energy in multiple forms, which allows for flexibility in the self-consumption design. Firstly, consumers can install generation units and self-consume what they generate (individual self-consumption - prosumers). Consumers can decide between two modalities: “with surplus” or “without surplus”. In the former case, any energy surplus can be compensated (through the electric bill) or sold on the market. In the later modality, the prosumer must install an anti-spill mechanism to prevent the injection of any energy surplus. Storage systems are allowed in all modalities.
Self-consumption can also be collective, i.e., several consumers are associated with one or multiple RE generation units (energy sharing and energy communities). Collective self-consumption can also adopt a “with or without surplus” modality. Prosumers can also share energy through internal networks but also using the public grid, which allows for energy sharing between buildings. Both schemes are also available for energy community projects
Summary of regulations
- Law 24/2013
- RDL 15/2018
- RD 244/2019
- RDL 23/2020
Competent authorities
- MITECO
- Directorate General for Energy Policy and Mines
- IDAE
- Autonomous Communities
- Municipalities
