Spain installed 1.14 GW of solar capacity for self-consumption in 2025, lifting cumulative capacity to 9.3 GW, as residential and commercial installations declined while industrial and off-grid segments showed greater resilience, according to data from the Spanish Photovoltaic Union.

From pv magazine Spain

Solar self-consumption capacity in Spain reached a cumulative 9.3 GW in 2025, according to data from the Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF).

Spain added 1,139 MW of new self-consumption capacity during the year, representing a 3.7% slowdown compared with 2024. UNEF said the deceleration signals a phase of market stabilization following several years of rapid growth.

The residential segment accounted for 229 MW across 36,330 new installations, a year-on-year decline of 17%. UNEF attributed the contraction to the phase-out of tax incentives linked to energy-efficient home renovations and lower compensation for surplus electricity exported to the grid under deregulated market contracts.

UNEF said falling surplus compensation prices are reducing the attractiveness of oversized systems designed primarily for grid injection. As a result, demand is shifting toward installations optimized for instantaneous self-consumption. The association is calling for revisions to the simplified regulated compensation mechanism to enable broader settlement of surplus energy and improve economic signals for small-scale systems.

The commercial segment installed 176 MW in 2025, down 15% from the previous year. Collective self-consumption remains limited despite its potential to optimize shared generation and demand. Industry representatives said pending regulatory updates are needed to enable aggregated management models, dynamic energy allocation, and an expansion of eligible self-consumption areas.

Industrial self-consumption installations totaled 679 MW, marking a slight increase compared with 2024. UNEF said growth in this segment is being driven by larger medium-voltage systems aimed at reducing electricity costs and partially covering electrified thermal demand. Project viability increasingly depends on tariff structures with a higher variable component and more streamlined permitting for medium-sized installations.

Off-grid installations reached 55 MW in 2025, reflecting growing uptake of hybrid solar-plus-storage systems in rural areas and locations without grid access. Battery integration in grid-connected installations also continued to rise, improving controllability of generation and supporting system flexibility.

UNEF said Spain will need to deploy an average of around 2 GW of self-consumption capacity per year to meet the 19 GW target set out in the country’s National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan. Achieving that level will require regulatory stability, administrative simplification, and more effective integration of distributed energy storage.

Elon Musk told the World Economic Forum in Davos that the lowest-cost energy for AI could come from solar power generated in space. He also suggested that sparsely populated areas of Spain and Sicily could serve as Europe’s “power plants.”

“We are in the most interesting era in history.” This is how Elon Musk opened his remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, speaking with BlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink.

Musk highlighted the potential of solar and battery storage in the United States. “Solar energy and batteries alone could supply half of the energy consumed in the US annually, requiring a negligible amount of space,” he said. “The same can be done in Europe: sparsely populated areas of Spain and Sicily could generate the electricty Europe needs.”

He noted that high tariffs complicate such plans in the United States. “SpaceX and Tesla are going to produce 100 GW per year at our plant in three years. I encourage others to do the same,” Musk said. “Despite the tariffs, China produces solar cells at a very low cost.”

Musk also noted that Tesla has begun using Optimus humanoid robots for basic factory tasks, expects them to handle more complex functions by 2026, and plans to make them available to the public in 2027.

“I believe the decisive factor for the deployment of AI is energy,” he said. “AI production is growing exponentially, but electricity is only growing by 4% per year. In 2026, we are going to produce more chips than we can power.”

He added that China is increasing energy generation to meet demand, largely through solar energy.

Looking further ahead, Musk suggested that the lowest-cost energy for AI could come from space. The plan is to transmit solar energy generated in space to Earth, a goal he expects to achieve within two to three years.

He closed on a hopeful note: “I want to encourage everyone to be optimistic and have hope for the future. You lead a better life if you are optimistic and your predictions don't come true, than if you are pessimistic and they do.”