Comunidad Solar Energy Retailer: Collective and Remote Self-Consumption of Solar and Hydroelectric Energy for the People of Spain

Comunidad Solar Energy Retailer

Collective and Remote Self-Consumption of Solar and Hydroelectric Energy for the People of Spain

Comunidad Solar's energy retailer brings remote self-consumption to people without a roof of their own

Since 2023, Comunidad Solar's electricity retailer has been bringing remote self-consumption to people who live in flats or have no roof of their own: their electricity bill reflects the energy they have bought in advance from solar parks and a hydroelectric plant hundreds of kilometres away. Comunidad Solar was founded in 2018 by ten friends, among them Eugenio García-Calderón Huerta, founder of Light Humanity.

  • What it is: Comunidad Solar's electricity retailer, a key piece of its collective and remote self-consumption.
  • How it works: the member buys in advance the energy from a set of panels in a distant solar park; the energy that matches their consumption hour by hour costs €0.00/kWh on the energy charge, any surplus is sold, and any shortfall is bought from the grid with no commercial margin.
  • Where: solar parks in Fuente Álamo (Murcia), a hydroelectric plant on the Pisuerga (Palencia) and municipal rooftops such as those in Villalbilla and Ceutí.
  • Who: Comunidad Solar Power (Las Rozas de Madrid), co-founded by Eugenio García-Calderón Huerta; on the project team, Paco Ragageles; and in the “Let's Light Up Morocco” solidarity campaign, Light Humanity and Solar Crowd.
  • Results: its three remote self-consumption installations are fully subscribed and, in Villalbilla, the first savings analysed range from 23% to 44%.
  • What's next: more energy communities, batteries and a solar park in Chiva (Valencia) planned for 2027.
Comunidad Solar members listen to an explanation beside the panels of the Fuente Álamo solar park
Opening of the Fuente Álamo solar park (Murcia), June 2023. Photo: Comunidad Solar
Aerial view of the Torrontera solar park, in Fuente Álamo (Murcia), with rows of panels on trackers
Torrontera solar park (Fuente Álamo, Murcia), with 4 MWh of batteries. Photo: Comunidad Solar
Weir on the River Pisuerga as it passes through Ligüérzana (Palencia), with the village and mountains in the background
The River Pisuerga at Ligüérzana (Palencia), site of the 500 kW plant. Photo: Comunidad Solar
Rows of panels at a Comunidad Solar remote self-consumption park beside farmland
Comunidad Solar solar park, in a news story from May 2023. Photo: Interempresas
Vídeo: Comunidad Solar | Eugenio García-Calderón explains your Comunidad Solar bill
Eugenio García-Calderón explains what the Comunidad Solar electricity bill looks like, in a webinar from July 2023. Video: Comunidad Solar (YouTube)

A heritage protection order in Toledo, the origin of Comunidad Solar's remote self-consumption

Between 2017 and 2018, Eugenio García-Calderón Huerta toured Spain on a solar bicycle to protest against the sun tax (Solar Pedalling). Then, with Light Humanity and Solar Crowd, he brought solar energy to the Cañada Real, Sagunto, Toledo and shelters in Madrid (Xataka). In Toledo, “when we got there to put up the solar panels, we found there was a heritage protection order”, he recalled in Energías Renovables.

  • Late 2018: he co-founds Comunidad Solar “with a group of 10 friends united by a common vision”.
  • The tool: “we created an electricity retailer called Comunidad Solar”, to bring the energy of distant solar parks “at zero cost to those who can't put panels on their roof”.
  • The problem: according to him, 70% of the population lives in urban areas without enough roof space.

The relationship with Light Humanity continued: in September 2023, after the Morocco earthquake, Comunidad Solar joined the NGO and Solar Crowd in “Let's Light Up Morocco” and bought more than 100 solar lamps for the first shipment (Energías Renovables).

An electricity retailer registered with the CNMC since 2021

The Comunidad Solar electricity retailer is the piece no one sees: it reflects each member's energy on the bill and tops up supply from the grid when needed, according to its website. Comunidad Solar put it at the service of remote self-consumption, which it presented in Madrid on 10 May 2023 (Energías Renovables).

Borja Peñalver presents Comunidad Solar's remote self-consumption to an audience in Madrid, in 2023
Borja Peñalver, managing director of Comunidad Solar, presents remote self-consumption in Madrid on 10 May 2023. Photo: Energías Renovables
  • Registration: on the CNMC register since 16 July 2021, under code R2-883 (tariffs).
  • First energy sources: according to the company, three solar parks in Murcia (3.2 MW) and a hydroelectric plant on the Pisuerga (Energías Renovables).
  • Its model in 2024: according to the company, it earned money only from selling energy mixes, not from the energy itself, and reinvested that margin in new installations (Energías Renovables).
“The retailer is not a business, it's a mechanism” — Borja Peñalver, managing director of Comunidad Solar in 2023 (La Razón)

Solar energy at a distance: an energy charge of €0.00/kWh when production matches consumption

Each member buys in advance the output of specific panels, and the retailer compares it, hour by hour, with what their home consumes (Comunidad Solar).

  • What matches: €0.00/kWh on the energy charge.
  • What is left over: it is sold and its value goes into a virtual wallet.
  • What is missing: it is bought from the grid with no commercial margin.
  • What is still paid: power capacity, network tolls, taxes and two fees: the Community Fee of the Megapark tariff (€4 a month) and the maintenance fee (€1 per panel per month), plus VAT.
  • The cost of joining: in 2024, each energy mix (one 540 W panel and one 100 W turbine) cost €1,141.90 and, according to the company, an average household needed four (Energías Renovables).

Savings on the electricity bill: the company's estimate and two real cases

In 2023, Peñalver estimated that a family with a bill of about €100 a month could save “close to 70% of the amount” (Energías Renovables). Antena 3 met Óscar and Paula, from Madrid, who, with their panels more than 450 kilometres away, paid €4.51 on their latest bill. And David Clavero, who invested €3,425.67 plus VAT, told Diariomotor that in his first year he paid 47.27% less per kilowatt-hour than with his previous retailer and that he will recoup the investment in eight years.

Fuente Álamo, Ligüérzana and Torrontera: three installations, fully subscribed

The first solar park was Fuente Álamo (Murcia). On 3 June 2023, some fifty people from all over Spain attended its opening and christened their panels in a downpour; among them was Josefa, aged 89, who travelled with her family from Manresa, according to the Comunidad Solar blog. El País told the story in “Crossing Spain to christen some solar panels”.

Vídeo: Comunidad Solar | Autoconsumo Remoto | Así ha sido la Inauguración del Megapark Fuente Álamo Murcia
The opening of the Fuente Álamo remote self-consumption park (Murcia), June 2023. Video: Comunidad Solar (YouTube)
  • Fuente Álamo I and II (Murcia): two single-axis tracking solar parks that gave rise to the first generation of remote self-consumption (Comunidad Solar).
  • Ligüérzana (Palencia): 500 kW hydroelectric plant on the River Pisuerga, with 2,010 members (Pisuerga Hydroelectric Plant).
  • Torrontera I and II (Fuente Álamo): they joined Comunidad Solar in 2025, with 3,808 panels and 4 MWh of batteries (Diariomotor).
  • Today: all three continue to produce for their members and are no longer taking new subscribers (Comunidad Solar).

From about 1,700 members in 2023 to more than 3,500 in 2026

The Objective called Comunidad Solar “the Robin Hood of energy”. “We try to redistribute the power of energy generation, historically concentrated in a few companies, to give society energy independence,” explained García-Calderón.

  • April 2023: 200 people signed up for remote self-consumption before its launch, according to Cadena SER.
  • October 2023: about 1,700 members, according to The Objective.
  • May 2024: more than 3,500 investors lent €800,000 through Goparity, the largest campaign on that platform (DPL News).
  • 2026: more than 3,500 people and businesses are part of Comunidad Solar (Comunidad Solar).

Villalbilla energy community: first savings of 23% to 44%

The other route is energy communities: rooftops that share their energy among neighbours within a radius of up to 5 km. Here the retailer handles the allocation coefficients with the distributor, without which the energy does not reach the bill (Comunidad Solar).

  • Eight communities on Comunidad Solar's map, among them Villalbilla, Nuevo Baztán and Ceutí.
  • Villalbilla (Madrid): the CEIP Gregorio Canella school has been sharing energy since 5 May 2026 and the first savings analysed range from 23% to 44% (Comunidad Solar blog).
  • Nuevo Baztán (Madrid): the Municipal Warehouse activated its first supplies between late July and August 2026.
  • Ceutí (Murcia): the rooftop of the Antonio Peñalver Sports Complex completed its installation in January 2026 (Comunidad Solar).
Solar panels of the Villalbilla energy community on the roof of the CEIP Gregorio Canella school
Roof of the CEIP Gregorio Canella school, in Villalbilla (Madrid), which has been sharing energy among its neighbours since May 2026. Photo: Comunidad Solar
Solar panels on the Municipal Warehouse in Nuevo Baztán, one of the rooftops of its energy community
Panels on the Municipal Warehouse in Nuevo Baztán (Madrid), whose first supplies were activated in the summer of 2026. Photo: project archive

Chiva, the next solar park: 4.5 MWp and batteries for 2027

The market has changed: “Midday solar energy is worth less and transporting electricity costs more,” Comunidad Solar acknowledges on its website. That is why it is betting on proximity and storage, without abandoning remote self-consumption.

  • Chiva (Valencia): agrivoltaic park under construction with 4.5 MWp, 6,410 panels and 4.8 MWh of batteries, due to open in 2027 (Comunidad Solar).
  • Rental: in energy communities, those who do not want to invest can subscribe for a monthly fee.

The retailer continues to link parks, rooftops and bills. Its goal, according to its tariffs page, “is not to sell you more kilowatts, but to depend less and less on the market”.

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