During 2025, the Spanish industrial self-consumption market may experience a slight decline compared to the previous year. In 2024, 1,085 MW were installed in this segment, representing a 23.4% drop year-on-year, according to the report by APPA Renovables.

Nevertheless, Opengy, a company specialising in behind-the-meter solutions for the industrial sector, anticipates growth in energy storage.

“From the perspective of photovoltaic self-consumption alone, the industrial market is likely to be slightly smaller than in 2024. However, in terms of storage, we expect the opposite,” states Executive Partner Manuel de Castro Zurita.

In a conversation with Strategic Energy Europe, the executive explains that technological developments, falling costs, and increased availability of public support are driving this shift. He also points to the impact of the recent blackout, which, as he puts it, “has brought storage into everyone’s conversations.”

In fact, Opengy already has installations specifically designed to operate as backup in the event of power cuts.

“We designed an installation so that storage and photovoltaics could act as backup, and during the blackout, it operated for several hours until the supply was restored,” says De Castro Zurita.

These solutions ensure the continuity of core industrial operations in the face of similar incidents.

From his point of view, storage will become a cornerstone of energy management in the industrial sector. The company is strengthening this line of business, convinced that the value of energy resilience will be increasingly appreciated by clients.

Urgent demands to the Government

The company leader highlights two urgent reforms that could revitalise industrial self-consumption in Spain.

The first is the extension of the permissible distance for energy sharing via the grid. It is worth recalling that in 2022, Royal Decree-Law 20/2022 stipulated that generation facilities and associated consumption points could be up to 2 km apart, provided they are connected via the distribution grid. However, for ground-mounted systems, this distance is reduced to 500 metres.

This, however, has not met the sector’s expectations. De Castro Zurita reiterates that “the radius is too small” and that a greater distance could boost self-consumption in industrial parks currently excluded by the regulation, “with no technical or economic justification.”

The second demand concerns the effective implementation of the 10% capacity reserve for self-consumption, which is currently restricted to the transmission network.

“As it stands, it doesn’t work, because it applies to very high-voltage nodes, which only connect a handful of consumers,” he explains.

Opengy proposes applying the same mechanism at the distribution level. “All capacity available or freed up in distribution should automatically have 10% reserved for self-consumption. It is technically and legally feasible, but political will is lacking,” he criticises.

Strategic projects

As part of its expansion, Opengy has built the first ground-mounted photovoltaic plant connected to the grid in the Community of Madrid, named Neosol.

Located in Villanueva del Pardillo, the 10 MW plant is part of the company’s strategy in distributed generation, targeting larger-scale solutions within the urban-industrial landscape.

In addition to rooftop systems, the firm also develops ground-mounted projects within the distributed generation niche. With this approach, the company strengthens its positioning across all energy fronts demanded by the industrial sector.

In addition to its focus on storage and distributed generation, Opengy offers comprehensive solutions that combine photovoltaic installations with the option to enter into PPAs. This mechanism enables industrial clients to access renewable energy at competitive and predictable prices, facilitating financial planning and reducing exposure to electricity market volatility.