This Thursday the Basque Parliament will approve the proposal for a law promoting energy self-consumption. The law was proposed by EH Bildu in June (pdf), and also has a favorable opinion from the Basque Government. Therefore, self-consumption solar panels and electric car recharging facilities can be installed without the need to apply for a licence under this law in Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa.

By easing the process, the promoters of the law want to increase the self-consumption of renewable energy. They have also explained that the initiative is in line with the European Union’s criteria in this area, and in other places the law has already been amended in the same direction, as in the case of Navarre.

For a few years the EU has been warning of the need to boost self-consumption, the Spanish Government has also approved the Law Decree with the same objective, but in the CAPV so far nothing has been done to remove these barriers.

Mikel Otero: Accelerating the energy transition

EH Bildu Secretary for Ecological Transition, Mikel Otero, stressed that the climate emergency, external energy dependency, price rises and supply problems of these months show that "the need to accelerate the energy transition, and in this context self-consumption is an important tool to deal with all these problems".

In Otero’s view, self-consumption, in addition to generating fewer impacts on energy demand and the environment, "allows for a rapid reduction in consumer bills".

By law, those interested in the installation of self-consumption facilities must not apply for a licence for works, except in buildings classified as heritage or heritage of cultural interest or where the works affect the structure or the environment.