I-DE, Iberdrola España's distribution company, brings self-consumption closer to installers in Salamanca

• Iberdrola España's distribution company organised a conference on electricity self-consumption kicked off by the regional representative of the Castilla y León Government in Salamanca, Eloy Ruiz, and the head of Iberdrola España's Grid Business in the province, Elsa García.
• The company leads self-consumption in Castilla y León with 18,000 contracts connected to its network, in Salamanca it has 3,500.
•  The boom in self-consumption, which also helps fight climate change, has come about thanks to technological advances, lower prices for the parts that make up the installation, simpler paperwork and grants at the local and state level.

Around fifty installers gathered in the capital of Salamanca for a conference on electricity self-consumption held by i-DE, Iberdrola España's distributor, for the Association of Installers (AESLUX) to address the most relevant technical and legislative aspects of the process of connecting individual and group self-consumption installations to the grid.

The conference was opened by the regional representative of the Castilla y León Government in Salamanca, Eloy Ruiz, the president of AESLUX, José Vicente Madruga, the head of Iberdrola España's Grid Business in the province, Elsa García, the head of the Territorial Industry Service in Salamanca, Alfonso García Hernández, and the head of the Salamanca Sector of i-DE, Iberdrola España's distribution company, Félix Pablo Sánchez. During the event, i-DE highlighted the need to have the grid ready for the expansion that the market is experiencing with the penetration of self-consumption and renewable energies sources. This is possible thanks to an increasingly robust, flexible and smart grid, which we need to continue to support as it is the real basis of decarbonisation.

The development of self-consumption in Castilla y León makes companies more competitive, improves families’ economies, and is beneficial for local installation companies. The company is the leader in self-consumption in Castilla y León with 18,000 contracts connected to its grid, with 3,500 in Salamanca.

Elsa Garcia stressed that now is the time for self-consumption and distributed generation and highlighted that "i-DE's distribution grid in Castilla y León and specifically in Salamanca has been able to respond to the strong uptick in self-consumption without saturating or overloading the grid thanks to the investments made in recent years".

They also discussed the importance of stable and predictable regulation to ensure investment in grids to transform the local distribution grid in cities and towns into smart grids. "Investment in grids needs to increase to be able to integrate new renewable power, secure supply and ensure resilience against extreme weather events and to be able to digitalise the system, so necessary for the expansion of electric mobility, self-consumption and the electrification of heat in industry. For every euro invested in renewables, one euro should be invested in electricity grids", said Garcia.

Innovation and digitisation in electricity grids will continue to improve the quality of supply and service, making the energy people consume more efficient.