The avalanche of requests to finance solar panels through the lines of aid from the Next Generation funds is overwhelming the Catalan Institute of Energy (ICAE). The Government announced in June that it was going to double the initial budget to 230 million (at the beginning of the year the item was 115 million) to try to cover the enormous demand for credit for self-consumption. But even with this extension, the budget will not be enough to cover all the subsidy requests that the Generalitat has already received. In the absence of six months to close the call, the requests from residents, companies and administrations already exceed the available budget by 40 million euros.
The forecasts of the ICAE when summoning the aid, at the beginning of the year, were that between companies, individuals and administrations, around 8,000 applications would be received to subscribe to one of the six credit lines in facilities and storage. But the forecasts have fallen short: the requests (30,000, of which around 20,000 are from individuals) triple the initial calculations. And there is still half a year to close the call. “We could close it now [la convocatoria] because there are people who are requesting and it is likely that they will be left without”, explains the director of the ICAE, Marta Morera.
The Generalitat positively values the avalanche of applications because it believes that it is a symptom that the change in the energy model has permeated the community. In 2017, there were just 259 license plate installations. Since the suppression in October 2018 of the so-called sun tax Photovoltaic self-consumption in Catalonia has already filled roofs and gardens with more than 27,000 installations, according to the latest data (updated until last March) from the ICAE.
The demands have not stopped growing since 2018 and in each quarter more installations are put into operation than in the previous quarter, according to ICAE data. Between January and March 2002, 6,400 new units with a total power of 46.05mw have been installed. This has meant that the ICAE has had to reinforce its staff to try to resolve the thousands of files that are piling up. In February, a team of 25 technicians was incorporated, to which 11 more employees have been added in recent weeks. Morera calculates that between someone requests the subsidy and, if they meet the requirements, they receive it, a total of 18 months can elapse. The energy services company Adymus warns of the lack of installers to face the rebound in the workload.
Expansion of resources
Given the limitation of funds to cover the enormous demand, the director of the ICAE explains that the Government has asked the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge of the Government of Spain, competent in transferring European aid to the communities, to extend another time the game “But they still haven’t specified whether there will be an expansion,” says Morera. The director rules out that the community provides its own funds for new facilities, although she is committed to new lines of aid to finance the electrification of homes and buildings. “We have to bet heavily on the energy efficiency of homes. Rather than give money for new self-consumption and storage facilities, we will give it to make houses more energy efficient,” she says. On Monday, the secretary of the Ministry of Climate Action, Anna Barnadas, will present another line of aid to encourage the use of renewable energies, such as biomass, solar thermal and geothermal, the Generalitat announced yesterday through a statement.
What affects the most is what happens closest. To not miss anything, subscribe.
subscribe
The avalanche of requests is being noticed especially in those municipalities with more single-family homes and where the municipalities discount the IBI and ICIO to face the installation. Sant Cugat (Barcelona), with nearly 90,000 inhabitants, according to the INE, leads the ranking of Catalan municipalities with 992 self-consumption equipment with a power of 5,129.5 kW. The city of Barcelona, (1,600,000 inhabitants), with data up to February, has 750, but with a higher power (10,553.0 Kw). This is due to the fact that there are more buildings in the Catalan capital, so the installations have to be communal and sufficient to provide energy to all the floors of the block.
Failure to meet targets in 2050
According to the latest annual report of the Observatory of Renewable Energies of Catalonia (Obercat), promoted by the main Catalan companies and organizations working on efficient energy management, it warns that the community is on track to fail to meet the renewable energy targets for 2050 and that Although there has been a leap in self-consumption installations, the good data has not been transferred to large wind and solar installations.
The document, with data up to 2021, highlights that self-consumption is only enough to cover 0.6% of Catalonia’s electricity demand and warns that Catalonia at this rate will not be able to supply itself without depending on Aragon. The director of ICAE, Marta Morera, admits that if the data on renewables is extrapolated to that of a year ago, the community “does not reach the objectives”, but trusts that the energy transition will gain momentum in Catalonia after the modification of the decree of renewables, which, he defends, has lowered the opposition of municipalities to the implementation of wind farms.
You can follow EL PAÍS Catalunya at Facebook Y Twitteror sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter
50% off
Subscribe to continue reading
read without limits
#European #funds #finance #solar #panels #Catalonia #fall #short #face #avalanche #requests