The Vice President of the Government and Minister of Energy Transition, Productive Sectors and Democratic Memory, Juan Pedro Yllanes, signed a collaboration agreement this Thursday between the Balearic Energy Institute (IBE) and the Municipal Housing and Integral Rehabilitation of Neighbourhoods of Palma (PMHRIBA), for the development of photovoltaic installations on the roofs of four buildings under a shared self-consumption system, which will benefit up to 85 vulnerable homes, thus reducing their electricity bills.

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The installations promoted by IBE will have a total power of 74 kW, which means 111,000 kWh/year of electricity generated from renewable sources and a reduction of 73 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, which is the equivalent of planting 7,300 trees. IBE’s investment for these four installations in Palma will be 107,448 euros, and with the income from the energy sold, the buildings will be energetically rehabilitated.

For Vice President Yllanes, “the figure of shared self-consumption is becoming more and more the protagonist of the roofs of the Illes Balears. The signing of this agreement will benefit 85 homes in Palma because it will lower their electricity bills, and it will also allow the income obtained to be reinvested in the energy refurbishment of the buildings. I would like to remind you that the installation of shared self-consumption on their roofs is one more step in the process of democratising energy that this government has begun. In the context of the energy and climate crisis, every step we take in the generation of clean energy is another step in the energy and climate shielding of our islands. That is why, from the Administration, we provide clean, public and cheap energy to those who have the least”.

Likewise, the councillor for the City Model, Decent Housing and Sustainability of Palma City Council, Neus Truyol, defended the collaboration between administrations to undertake initiatives to combat what Truyol called the “energy gap”. In fact, the councillor stated that “there cannot be a social divide between those who can pay for self-consumption installations and those who cannot. The energy crisis is hitting the poorest people above all, and the public authorities have to ensure that no one is left behind”.

The Director General for Energy and Climate Change, Pep Malagrava, indicated that “the IBE is the key tool in the development of our Climate Change and Energy Transition Law. It has become a strategic tool at the present time and that is why we will continue to promote agreements like this one. The energy transition must reach all citizens, and it is precisely the public company that must ensure that people with fewer resources have access to clean, public and cheap energy. Households must see the support of the administrations reflected in their daily lives, and this means being able to see a reduction in their electricity bills. Shared self-consumption will become more and more widespread, as more and more people are joining this rooftop revolution”.

In the words of IBE’s managing director, Ferran Rosa, “as roofs are repaired, they can be used to develop community self-consumption installations on the rest of the available roofs. The IBE will soon be evaluating the larger buildings on Carrer d’Aragó and Carrer de l’Temple in order to include them in the next phase.

Josep Maria Rigo, Director General of Housing and Manager of the Municipal Housing and Neighbourhood Rehabilitation Board (PMHRIBA), also valued the self-consumption policies very positively because “they partly relieve the effects of the generalised price rises we are experiencing at all levels, but which are particularly high in the case of energy costs. In this sense, the Palma City Council’s Department of City Model, Decent Housing and Sustainability is working “so that families in Palma have tools to help them save on their electricity bills”, concluded Rigo.