Solar Pedalling: Tour of Spain by solar bicycle against the sun tax

Solar Pedalling

Tour of Spain by solar bicycle against the sun tax

Solar Pedalling: 3,890 km around Spain by solar bicycle against the sun tax

Between June and September 2018, the engineer Eugenio García-Calderón rode around Spain on a bamboo electric bicycle towing a trailer of solar panels. The tour was organised by Zima Project, the forerunner of Light Humanity, to call for an end to the sun tax, which the Government repealed less than a month after the closing cycling protest.

  • What it was: a tour of Spain by solar bicycle, billed as the first of its kind, against the sun tax.
  • When: from the departure from Madrid on 3 June 2018 to the cycling protest on 9 September.
  • Who rode: Eugenio García-Calderón Huerta, now the founder of Light Humanity.
  • Who organised it: Zima Project, with the support of ecooo and the cooperative Som Energia.
  • Where: from Madrid to the south (Toledo, Granada, Almería), along the Mediterranean (Valencia, Castellón, Barcelona) and across the north to Castro Urdiales, before returning to Madrid.
  • What happened next: less than a month later, Royal Decree-Law 15/2018 freed self-consumed solar energy from charges.
Bamboo solar bicycle with a trailer of three photovoltaic panels, parked in a park
Bamboo frame, electric motor and a trailer with three panels. Photo: Zima Project
The Zima Project team poses with a solar panel and a wheel with an electric motor
The team at Zima Project, the NGO that organised the tour. Photo: Zima Project
Cyclist in a helmet and sunglasses on a coastal road, with a solar panel visible below
On the road by the sea in July 2018, with one of the trailer's panels in view. Photo: Zima Project
Solar trailer with three panels and a Som Energia banner, next to an olive tree
A stop beside an olive tree, with the Som Energia banner. Photo: Zima Project
Vídeo: Around Spain on a Solar Bicycle. The Solar Pedalling Project
“Tour of Spain on a Solar Bicycle. Solar Pedalling Project”: the video summary (1 min 28 s) that Eugenio García-Calderón published on 8 September 2018, at the end of the tour.

In 2018, the “sun tax” was holding back solar self-consumption in Spain

When Eugenio García-Calderón finished his degree, Spain had the so-called sun tax, and he went to work in wind power “because solar energy was at a standstill”, as he told Energías Renovables in 2024.

  • What the sun tax was: the popular name for the charges that Royal Decree 900/2015 applied to self-consumed energy, the energy people produce and use themselves.
  • Zima Project's diagnosis: the sun tax “has achieved its aim: to discourage the generation of solar energy” (Energías Renovables).
  • One of the harshest rules: “one of the most restrictive in Europe and the world”, according to Zima, which pointed to the example of Germany: with half the solar resource, it had “ten times more” photovoltaic installations than Spain (Ecoticias).
“We were left feeling it wasn't enough whenever there was a demonstration, so we decided to turn the cause into an adventure” — María, of the Zima Project team (elDiario.es)

Zima Project, the “One cause, one adventure” NGO that preceded Light Humanity

Zima Project described itself as a young non-profit NGO whose purpose was “One cause, one adventure”: challenges to draw attention to social causes, above all climate change and inequality (Energías Renovables).

  • Its first project: Solar Pedalling, presented in February 2018 in a video with a cause, “putting an end to the Sun Tax”, and a challenge: a tour of Spain by solar bicycle.
  • The team: Eugenio, an engineer specialising in renewables; María, a translator and gender expert; and Nasib, a telecommunications engineer (elDiario.es).
  • Funding: Zima Project said it was 100% funded by donations and sought support for the tour with the slogan “€1 = 1 km” (Zima Project website, archived).

Bamboo solar bicycle with an electric motor and three 180-watt panels

The team built the bike with help from its collaborators. “It's a conventional bicycle on which we've changed the rear wheel to make it electric,” Eugenio told Castro Punto Radio.

  • Frame: made of bamboo (Diario Jaén), by the brand Bamboo Koa. The bike has its own entry in the lab: Solar Bicycle.
  • Motor: in the rear wheel. “It's not like a motorbike, it just makes things a little easier,” María explained (Toledo Diario).
  • Energy: three 180-watt panels (Energías Renovables), on a trailer, charged custom-made batteries, with a controller as the “brain of the whole circuit” (elDiario.es).
  • Collaborators: the Zima Project website displayed the logos of Som Energia, Monsolar, Bambookoa, Bikelec, E13 Batteries, Remolques de Bici y Ocio and EXUS Partners.
Joint on the solar bicycle's bamboo frame, with the Bamboo Koa brand
The bamboo frame, with the Bamboo Koa brand. Photo: Zima Project
Electric motor in the rear wheel hub of the bamboo solar bicycle
The electric motor sits in the rear wheel hub and assists the pedalling. Photo: Zima Project
E13-brand battery secured inside the solar bicycle's trailer
The E13-brand battery travels in the trailer and is charged by the solar panels. Photo: Zima Project

The departure: Madrid, 3 June 2018, escorted by more than a hundred cyclists

On Sunday 3 June 2018, the solar bicycle left Madrid escorted by more than 100 cyclists (Greenpeace). The plan: 3,250 km and 25 cities in five stages, averaging 140 km every two days (Informativos Telecinco).

  • At every stop: an event to show the bike and explain how to take part in the energy transition (Energías Renovables).
  • The signatures: collected to ask the Ministry for regulation that would encourage self-consumption (Diario Jaén).
  • The alternatives: group purchases such as ecooo's “solar waves” (elDiario.es) and community-owned solar plants (Energías Renovables).
Cyclists with the solar bicycle in front of the Royal Palace of Madrid on the day of departure
Cyclists with the solar bicycle in front of the Royal Palace of Madrid on 3 June 2018, the day of departure. Photo: Zima Project
Dozens of cyclists surround the solar bicycle in front of the Plaza de Castilla towers
The solar bicycle, surrounded by cyclists and displaying a banner calling for a cycle lane, in Plaza de Castilla (Madrid), in June 2018. Photo: Zima Project

The Solar Pedalling route: 25 cities on a full circuit of Spain

Map of the planned route for the tour of Spain by solar bicycle, with 25 cities
The planned route, on the campaign poster: 3,250 km and 25 cities, starting and finishing in Madrid. Image: Zima Project

The poster traced a great circle: the south, the Mediterranean, the north and Castile. On the road, the route changed with the weather and the unexpected, as the Zima Project website warned.

From the south to the Mediterranean: Toledo, Granada, Almería and Valencia

  • Toledo: the first stop, on 4 June; the next day, a gathering in Plaza de Zocodover to explain self-consumption (elDiario.es).
  • Granada: it was due to arrive on 13 June from Martos and leave on the 15th for Motril (Granada Digital).
  • Almería: by around 18 June, the bike had already covered 1,000 km (Telemadrid).
  • Valencia, halfway there: Greenpeace announced its arrival on 29 June, with 1,600 km covered, and its presentation the following day on Malvarrosa beach, with ecooo and Som Energia (Greenpeace).

From the Mediterranean to the Cantabrian coast: Castellón, Catalonia and Castro Urdiales

  • Castellón: on 7 July, a welcome from the group Castelló en Bici and an exhibition at the Planetari (Ciclosfera).
  • Towards Catalonia: via Peñíscola and the Sierra de Irta to Tarragona, and from there to Barcelona and Lleida, according to its stage diary.
  • Castro Urdiales: in August, after the Basque Country, he made his longest stop here, because he has family in the town; he had covered 3,100 km (Castro Punto Radio).
Peñíscola Castle lit up, seen from the beach, on the solar bicycle's route
Peñíscola, on the way from Castellón to Tarragona, in the tour's stage diary. Photo: Zima Project
Eugenio García-Calderón, in a Som Energia T-shirt, at the Castro Punto Radio microphone
Eugenio García-Calderón in the Castro Punto Radio studios during his stop in Castro Urdiales in August 2018. Photo: Castro Punto Radio

Arrival in Madrid after 3,890 km and a cycling protest for self-consumption

Eugenio returned to Madrid in early September, three months after setting off, with 3,890 km, 25 cities and dozens of local exhibitions behind him (Energías Renovables).

“I had complete faith in the solar panels on my trailer; they helped me get further on each stage” — Eugenio García-Calderón (Energías Renovables)
  • 6 September: a presentation held at the ecooo space, with the bike on display and videos of the journey (CienciasAmbientales.com).
  • 9 September: a cycling protest at 11:00 from Cibeles (Amadores de la Bici), called by Zima Project with Pedalibre, the Carril Bici Castellana campaign and ecooo (Energías Renovables).
  • The manifesto: against the obstacles to self-consumption, it was due to be read outside the Ministry for the Ecological Transition (Energías Renovables).
  • Puerta del Sol: the march ended here, and Eugenio recounted part of his journey (video of the cycling protest).

A month later, Royal Decree-Law 15/2018 put an end to the sun tax

On 5 October 2018, less than a month after the cycling protest, the Government approved Royal Decree-Law 15/2018. Its preamble admitted that self-consumption “has barely begun to be rolled out” in Spain because of regulatory barriers.

  • No charges: the law recognised “the right to self-consume electricity free of charges” and came into force on 7 October.
  • Eugenio's view: “at the end of 2018 the Sun tax was repealed, and early the following year legislation in favour of self-consumption began” (Energías Renovables).

From Solar Pedalling to Light Humanity: solar lamps, Comunidad Solar and more

For Eugenio, the bicycle was the beginning. “It was a struggle with myself to build that bicycle and start raising the funds to set up that project,” he told Yorokobu.

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