i-DE, Iberdrola España's distribution company, connects more than 20,000 self-consumption installations in the Region of Murcia

• The distribution company of the Iberdrola España group, in collaboration with AREMUR and FREMM, has organised a technical seminar on the process of processing the connection to the grid. 
• The director of i-DE in the Eastern Region, Ana Lafuente, has highlighted that more than 2% of customers in the Community already have a self-consumption installation, the highest levels within the scope of the company. 

i-DE, External link, opens in new window. the distributor of the Iberdrola group, has surpassed 20,000 self-consumption installations connected to its electricity grid in the Region of Murcia, 50 of them in collective mode, which contribute a total of 250 MW of photovoltaic generation fully integrated into the low and medium voltage grids.

The company has organised a technical session aimed at professionals in the sector, in collaboration with the Murcia Renewable Energy and Energy Saving Association, AREMUR, and the Regional Federation of Metal Entrepreneurs of Murcia (FREMM), to provide information and details on the processing of collective self-consumptionExternal link, opens in new window.  files for connection to the i-DE grid.

This is a system of renewable energy production through a photovoltaic installation shared among several users, who are part of a group of consumers who generate and share electricity from production facilities close to their homes with which they have a prior agreement.

The distribution company has published the Collective Self-consumption Guide to guide the electricity installer sector and the promoters of this type of initiative in the technical-administrative processing of the deployment of this type of renewable energy generation throughout the process, as well as to facilitate the deployment of shared self-consumption, which is the pillar on which the energy communities are based.

It is a publication that can be updated, incorporating changes and improvements in its content to take into account both the applicable regulatory developments and the different contributions received from users.

The conference, which was attended by approximately one hundred professionals, was attended by Joaquín Abenza, Deputy Managing Director of Industrial, Energy and Mining Safety of the Region of Murcia; Francisco Espín, President of AREMUR; and Ana Lafuente, Director of i-DE in the Eastern Region.

Ana Lafuente wanted to highlight the evolution of the connection of self-consumption installations in the Region, "where it has gone from 4,000 installations at the end of 2021 to the current 20,500, and also highlight the evolution in the form of collective self-consumption, which has gone from four to 50 in the same period of time".

The director of i-DE in the Eastern Region highlighted the important role played by the electricity distribution network as a facilitator of the energy transition and "especially in the Region of Murcia, where currently more than 2% of the company's customers already have a self-consumption installation, the highest level within the company's distribution area. And all of this is thanks to the investment effort and the digitalisation of our installations carried out in recent years, which have allowed us to have an increasingly robust, flexible and intelligent electricity grid. And we must continue to promote it, as it is the real backbone for decarbonisation".

Clean energy through grids

i-DE is immersed in a process of transformation of the electricity distribution grid that is providing more information to implement additional energy efficiency and sustainability measures, in a way that is committed to ambitious and urgent climate action. The deployment of the smart grid makes it possible to respond to new models of grid use and offer a better service to citizens.

In the Region of Murcia, i-DE manages more than 28,000 kilometres of low and medium voltage lines and approximately 1,500 km of high and very high voltage lines. It also has 9,600 transformation centres in service and 69 substations. In recent years, the company has undertaken an ambitious plan to digitalise its electricity grids in the region, where it has converted its more than 900,000 meters and the infrastructure that supports them into smart meters, incorporating remote management, supervision and automation capabilities.