Robinsun launches plug & play kit certification service in Spain

Following customer demand, Robinsun now offers a certification service for plug & play solar kits to customers in Spain. As we wrote recently, in Spain solar kits can operate without registration if a customer installs a zero discharge device on the household’s main power line. Instead of wasting money on a device you don’t need in practice, you can now certify your kit, obtaining an electric installation certificate.

Advantages of certification

The most obvious advantage of certifying your plug & play solar kit is to avoid having to waste money on a zero discharge device, that doesn’t add any value and is complicated to install yourself.

Following the Spanish electrical code, the alternative to a zero discharge device is certification. Obtaining an electric installation certificate (CIE) has a few additional benefits. First of all, with the CIE you can request from your power company to be compensated for the surplus power that you discharge into the grid. Considering the relatively low amounts of surplus you are likely to have, the compensation won’t be much, but over the 30 years lifespan of your kit adds up. Some power companies offer you “virtual batteries”. This means that you will receive no money for the power you discharge, but can use that power later at no cost, when you consume more than you generate with your kit.

Additionally, a CIE might be required to request certain fiscal incentives related to solar installations for self-consumption. You will need to check with your local administration on the benefits programs and the process to obtain them. But in most cases a CIE is a requirement for these.

Required documents, costs and process

To obtain the CIE, we will need some documents from you:

• Scanned copy or photo of your ID
• Copy of a power bill
• Your catastral reference (if you don’t have it you can find it here)

After purchasing the service, we will reach out to you by email to request these documents. The processing of the certification is usually quick, but in times of high demand can take up to 5 working days.

Certification has a cost of €129 VAT incl. In the Canary Islands VAT is not applied. You might also have to pay a regional tax, depending on the region where you live. Below is an overview of the costs per region.

Conclusions

To comply with all formal requirements in Spain, certification is a better option than installing a zero discharge device. It allows you to earn a little on your surplus energy, instead of losing it. And check out the local subsidies or fiscal incentives that might be available to you. Your CIE will come handy to request those.