Who has access to solar energy? Income, property and type of housing in the deployment of self-consumption

The energy transition in the city is stuck and when it progresses it does so unequally, Barcelona has considerable solar potential, but it is hardly taking advantage of it. The problem is not just the slowness of deployment. Access to self-consumption is deeply conditioned by income, property and, above all, by the possibility of deciding on a roof.

The result is an unequal geography. Self-consumption is concentrated in wealthy neighborhoods, while it is practically non-existent in many dense, popular neighborhoods with greater climate vulnerability. Public policies based on subsidies and tax rebates have reinforced this inequality.

The report points out that roof ownership is today one of the main barriers to democratizing solar energy. A change of model is necessary: to move from encouraging private self-consumption to planning solar deployment by treating roofs, public and private, as an infrastructure of general interest, especially in neighborhoods where individual self-consumption has more limitations.

• Date: 2026
• Authors: Observatori Coòpolis (IDRA, La ciutat invisible, XES Barcelona)
• Supported by: Generalitat de Catalunya
• Keywords: renewable energy, solar panels, inequality, property