Note

Solar and energy-efficiency subsidies in Spain

§ 1Three kinds of help

Money for solar and efficiency works comes in three forms: grants from programmes run by the regions, reductions of local taxes decided by towns, and temporary deductions in the state income tax. All three change, have conditions and often require that the work is done before the application or after it, depending on the scheme. This page belongs to the chapter on the rules on energy and comfort, and it says what we read.

§ 2Regional programmes

The energy agency’s answers say that incentive programmes under a royal decree of 2021, linked to the recovery plan, are managed by the autonomous communities and by Ceuta and Melilla. The calls open and close, with budgets that run out. Look at your region’s energy agency or industry department for the current call, and read the conditions on the order of work and the application. Do not sign an installation contract before you know whether starting works makes you ineligible.

§ 3Municipal bonuses

The agency says municipalities may grant bonuses on the tax on works and on the local property tax for solar installations, which could reach up to ninety-five per cent, and that each municipality decides whether and how. Ask the town hall, look at its tax ordinances, and ask the installer whether the town’s bonus is already in the quote. How solar panels work explains the licence that triggers the works tax.

§ 4Income tax deductions

The tax agency’s manual says that three temporary deductions in the state quota were added by a 2022 law for energy-efficiency works: for works that reduce heating and cooling demand, for works that reduce non-renewable primary energy consumption and for the energy rehabilitation of buildings that are mainly residential. They apply to the habitual home, to let homes and to residential buildings, and the improvement must be shown in an energy certificate. The page we read does not give the percentages, the maximum bases or the deadlines, and it says that an extension decree in 2025 was revoked, so the rules in force at the end of 2025 apply for that year.

§ 5Non-residents

The deductions are in the state income tax, which residents pay. We did not find on the pages we read whether a non-resident taxpayer can use them, and non-residents are taxed under a different law, as the section on costs and taxes explains. Ask a tax adviser. If you are a resident, keep the energy certificates before and after, and the invoices.

§ 6Certificates

The certificate before and after the work is the proof that the improvement happened. The section on owning and selling explains the energy certificate. Ask the installer to include the cost of the certificates in the quote.

§ 7Order of steps

Check the programme first, ask the town hall, get the quote, apply where required, then sign. Keep every paper, since a grant can be audited. The rules on insulation explains other works that may qualify.

§ 8What we could not verify

We did not read the three deduction pages for rates and limits, the regional calls or the town ordinances. Programmes change often.

§ 9More on this topic

How damp and mould works explains how to spot and judge damp and mould in a Spanish home and how heating works explains heating questions to ask when buying a Spanish home.

Tax note. Rates depend on the region, the type of property and the buyer, and they change. Figures here are dated and sourced; examples are illustrative and show their assumptions. Confirm yours with the regional tax agency or a tax adviser.