Consumer (Co-)Ownership in Renewables in Spain

Until the new left-wing government was elected in May 2018, the government had barely promoted RE consumer (co-)ownership. On the contrary, it restricted, for example, legislation for net metering, which is why until 2018 excess production of prosumers fed into the grid was not remunerated; however, new legislation enabled the introduction of net metering in October 2018. Furthermore, one particularly contested regulation required paying a tax for RE installations connected to the grid was repealed with the same law 15/2018 introducing supportive rules for self-consumption and permitting its pooling. The regional governments of Navarre, the Balearic Islands, Extremadura, and Murcia are pushing for regulation in the field of RE, yet they risk contravening the national regulations as this area is considered the competence of the federal legislator. Furthermore, consumer (co-)ownership in general received explicit recognition of its crucial role in the 2018 recast of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) as part of the Clean Energy Package. RE consumer (co-)ownership occurs through three main models: (i) in the joint purchase model, consumers participate collectively in the electricity market, either by purchasing kW directly on the electricity market (see OCU, 2017), or through the collective purchase of PV module kits for self-consumption; (ii) community projects favour popular participation, although primarily in the role of an investor, while ownership, management, and formal promotion responsibilities reside mainly with the promoter organization; and (iii) RE cooperatives allow direct consumer (co-)ownership with 33 consumer cooperatives registered in the production and distribution sector of electricity, gas, and water in 2016.