UNEF advances in the campaign for the elimination of the building permit requirement for self-consumption with its elimination in Madrid

  • Processing photovoltaic self-consumption installations via prior notification eliminates the problem of delays of up to eight months that have occurred up to now and that affect the environment and the generation of employment.
  • The reactivation of self-consumption is key to Spain's economic recovery due to its capacity to create wealth and help reduce company costs.
  • Most European countries do not require a building permit for self-consumption projects.
  • Thanks to Madrid's decision, there are now twelve Autonomous Communities that, as a result of the work carried out by UNEF, have eliminated this administrative barrier and have streamlined the approval processes.

Madrid, 22 October 2021 | The Spanish Photovoltaic Union, UNEF, has succeeded in getting the Autonomous Community of Madrid to approve the adaptation of the autonomous laws on urban planning to the reality of self-consumption, so that these installations can be processed by means of the responsible declaration, which considerably speeds up the administrative process.

"We would like to congratulate the Madrid government for having taken this important decision. Improving the speed of the procedures is, at this time more than ever, key to reactivating the activity of the entire network of self-employed and companies that can make self-consumption another way of economic recovery and job creation in the municipalities after the current crisis due to COVID-19, as well as providing better access to electricity prices for consumers, cheap and environmentally friendly", said José Donoso, Director General of UNEF.

The clarification of the Land Law of the Community of Madrid through the publication in the BOCM of Order 1110/2021, of 7 October, of the Regional Ministry of the Environment, Housing and Agriculture, replacing the municipal building permit with a responsible declaration, allows criteria to be unified between the different administrations and simplifies the administrative process for the implementation of solar energy installations for self-consumption on buildings or constructions.

UNEF has stated that it will continue to work to facilitate access to this type of installation for end consumers, with the aim of guaranteeing stability in the photovoltaic sector, which is currently the most economical and ecological way of producing electricity.

Thus, thanks to the work carried out by UNEF, an association representing 90% of the sector, in Madrid, the prior notification will replace the building permit, a procedure that is not in line with the nature of a rooftop installation and which entails delays of up to eight months in the processing of the project. The building permit has an impact on the cost of the installation and discourages citizens who want to opt for self-consumption to reduce their electricity bills and contribute to the fight against climate change.

Madrid is now one of the twelve Autonomous Communities that have eliminated this procedure, which has become the main barrier to the development of photovoltaic self-consumption and the installation of renewable energies in municipalities.

UNEF recalls the need to simplify, digitalise and standardise administrative procedures at regional and local level, denouncing the fact that there are currently Autonomous Communities that require different processes to process a self-consumption installation. Eliminating these administrative barriers is essential for self-consumption to contribute, together with ground-mounted photovoltaic plants, to meeting the objective set by the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) and for there to be an earlier recovery and less job destruction.

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