Spain’s solar industry association UNEF (Unión Española Fotovoltaica) and the Andalusian Energy Agency hosted the third Energy Communities Summit (III Cumbre de Comunidades Energéticas) in Seville at the end of September 2026. The meeting was held as part of the European REC4EU project and brought together public authorities, industry, researchers and energy communities from across Spain.
Genera scouts practical technology for returning Innovation Gallery
The figure of 837 communities comes from the third indicator report of the Observatorio Energía Común, run by the Spanish sustainability foundation Ecodes. According to the report, one in ten Spanish municipalities now has an energy community, and 65.5 percent of the communities operate in rural areas. More than half already run or plan measures to tackle energy poverty.
Andalusia exceeds own targets
Andalusia drew particular attention at the summit. According to Jorge Paradela, regional minister for universities, industry, energy and innovation in the Andalusian government, the region now has almost 2,000 collective self-consumption installations and has already exceeded its capacity target for 2026.
Solar's success becomes its economic challenge
Andalusia has also drawn up its own roadmap for the development of energy communities. Paradela said the time had come to take the next step with collective self-consumption and energy communities. In his view, decentralised generation lowers energy bills for households and small and medium-sized enterprises and helps industry become more competitive.
Participatory and sustainable, with economic potential
UNEF President Rafael Benjumea underlined the social dimension of the model. Energy communities, he said, are key instruments against rural depopulation and stand for the Spain we want: participatory, sustainable and one that uses its renewable resources to create benefits for the region. The time has come to advance their development by removing the regulatory, administrative and economic barriers that still limit their potential.
Landatu Solar expands into floating solar and flat-roofs
The summit also showed that energy communities are broadening their scope. Alongside self-consumption, they are increasingly integrating storage, electric mobility, energy efficiency and flexibility services. Industrial and agricultural businesses and irrigation cooperatives are also joining as new players.
From self-consumption to energy ecosystems
On the regulatory side, Royal Decree-Law 7/2026 has brought progress by making the promotion of energy communities a task in its own right for municipalities and extending the permitted radius for collective self-consumption from 2 km to 5 km. Participants see a dedicated Royal Decree on energy communities as the next step to complete the legal framework.
Even with these advances, experts at the summit see work ahead, above all in professionalising management, opening up new sources of financing beyond public funding and removing the remaining administrative hurdles. (nhp)
