What If You Could Subscribe to a Solar Panel in Spain and Use Its Electricity in Italy?

<p>A new way of using electricity is gaining attention online: <strong>you consume electricity in Italy while your solar panel generates power in Spain.</strong></p><p>Under the traditional model, apartment residents without a rooftop—or or those restricted by building regulations—have had little opportunity to benefit from residential solar. But <strong>Plenitude</strong> has introduced an interesting new concept. Instead of installing solar panels at home, users can <strong>"adopt"</strong> a solar panel located at the <strong>Cerrillares Solar Park in Spain</strong>. You consume electricity in Italy, while your solar panel generates electricity in Spain.</p><p>The key challenge is straightforward: <strong>How can the system verify that the electricity you consume at a given moment corresponds to the electricity generated by your adopted solar panel?</strong></p><h2><strong>Turning a Solar Panel into a Digital Energy Account</strong></h2><p>Plenitude calls the program <strong>"Adotta un Pannello"</strong>—Italian for <strong>"Adopt a Solar Panel." </strong>According to the official program, users can choose from <strong>three different options</strong>, corresponding to <strong>0.3 kW, 0.6 kW, and 0.9 kW</strong> of solar capacity.</p><p><img src="https://di8026cal0d.feishu.cn/space/api/box/stream/download/asynccode/?code=MWI5ZWIwYjAwMWY2MzUxOGE4NWU5MzIyNGU3YjFjNThfbFZNZ2NEbG9LM055Nk1QYkVqMzdnQVl6OHZHYjY2WktfVG9rZW46REFYOWJ2bm9Hb1RSamd4Um1rZWNvQTlCbjNlXzE3ODM1MDU4MDc6MTc4MzUwOTQwN19WNA&amp;add_watermark=true&amp;scene_type=CCM" alt="" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /></p><p>There is no construction work, and no solar equipment needs to be installed at home. Instead of purchasing a physical solar panel, users subscribe to a <strong>virtual solar service</strong>. The solar panels remain installed at the <strong>Cerrillares Solar Park</strong>, where they generate electricity as usual. Users can then track the generation of their allocated solar capacity through the <strong>Plenitude app</strong>.</p><p>This often leads to a common misunderstanding: if the solar park generates 100 kWh of electricity, does the system take those 100 kWh and physically "deliver" them through the grid to a specific household in Italy?</p><p>From the perspective of how electricity physically flows through the grid, electrons do not travel along a software-defined route from Spain to an apartment in Italy. What the system actually does is <strong>energy data matching and billing settlement</strong>. It digitizes a portion of the solar park's real generation capacity and matches it with the electricity consumption profile of a specific user. In other words, it creates a <strong>digital representation of a real-world solar asset</strong>.</p><h2><strong>The Real Key Is Matching Two Curves</strong></h2><p>The technology behind the project comes from Australian company <strong>Enosi</strong>, whose core software platform is called <strong>Powertracer</strong>. On one side is the electricity generation data from the solar park. On the other is the electricity consumption data recorded by the user's smart meter. Based on interval metering data, Powertracer performs <strong>time-based matching</strong> between renewable energy generation and electricity consumption.</p><p>▍<strong>A simple example:</strong></p><ul><li>From <strong>12:00 pm to 12:15 pm</strong>, the solar capacity you have adopted generates <strong>0.1 kWh</strong>.</li><li>During the same period, your air conditioner, refrigerator, and other household appliances consume <strong>0.15 kWh</strong>.</li><li>In this case, <strong>0.1 kWh</strong> can be counted as <strong>virtual self-consumption</strong>, while the remaining <strong>0.05 kWh</strong> is billed under your standard electricity supply contract.</li><li>Conversely, if your adopted solar capacity generates <strong>0.1 kWh</strong> during that period, but your household only consumes <strong>0.04 kWh</strong>, then only <strong>0.04 kWh</strong> can be matched.</li></ul><p>The key is <strong>not how much electricity is generated over an entire day, but whether electricity generation and consumption occur during the same time interval</strong>.</p><p>Under Plenitude's current program, users are required to have a <strong>second-generation smart meter</strong> with interval data collection enabled. Based on the smart meter data and the solar generation monitoring data, the system calculates the user's <strong>virtual self-consumed electricity</strong>.</p><p>For the portion of electricity that is successfully matched, Plenitude offers a <strong>100% discount on the energy charge</strong> associated with that electricity. This refers only to the energy charge for the matched electricity—it does <strong>not</strong> mean the user's entire electricity bill becomes zero. Electricity that cannot be matched, electricity consumed at night, or consumption exceeding the actual solar generation during a given period is still billed under the normal electricity tariff.</p><p>Plenitude does not promise a fixed level of savings. The actual savings achieved by each user depend on their electricity tariff as well as <strong>how closely their consumption profile aligns with the solar generation profile</strong>.</p><p><img src="https://di8026cal0d.feishu.cn/space/api/box/stream/download/asynccode/?code=YTc5Njc3YzhlMzg3YzhkOWRkMGZkNjY4YTI4NzJhZWZfS3AyeGN0S1R3bzhMcWpHcHNQZkZjOU4zSE1kWlpZMTZfVG9rZW46UEk0ZGJXbWFOb1hIdVR4Z1BiSmNTRHN2bmZtXzE3ODM1MDU4MDc6MTc4MzUwOTQwN19WNA&amp;add_watermark=true&amp;scene_type=CCM" alt="" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /></p><h2><strong>Software Begins to Influence </strong><em><strong>When</strong></em><strong> Electricity Is Consumed</strong></h2><p>Since users only receive a discount when electricity generation and consumption occur during the same time period, a natural question arises: <strong>Will users start adjusting when they use electricity? </strong>This is exactly what makes this model particularly interesting.</p><p>As the share of renewable energy continues to grow, the time when electricity is generated often does not match the time when people need it. Solar generation peaks around midday, while residential electricity demand typically rises in the evening. The traditional solution has been to deploy battery storage—charging during the day and discharging at night.</p><p>But battery storage is not the only answer. Another approach is to adjust demand instead.</p><p>At its core, Plenitude's program tells users through their electricity bill that <strong>when their adopted solar panel is generating electricity, shifting more of their consumption into that period allows them to receive a discount on the corresponding energy charges.</strong> As a result, users gain an incentive to rethink when they run their washing machine, dishwasher, or charge their electric vehicle.</p><p><img src="https://di8026cal0d.feishu.cn/space/api/box/stream/download/asynccode/?code=MDc1NGYwODNhMzZjYmU2ODljMDlmYTcwMDIwOWUxMjRfb1o0Q2dvWmo0SUlxb2VvY2FQR0JaTzk4c0VVTUUycE5fVG9rZW46UjZUZWJEeGFwb2NLdkp4enhWTGNwTU1pblpkXzE3ODM1MDU4MDc6MTc4MzUwOTQwN19WNA&amp;add_watermark=true&amp;scene_type=CCM" alt="" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /></p><p>A study on <strong>Virtual Energy Networks</strong> published by <strong>Deakin University</strong> in Australia in 2026 supports a similar concept.</p><p>Around <strong>300 households and small businesses</strong> participated in the trial. The platform enabled users to trade electricity generated by solar panels and batteries through the existing power grid. The study found that virtual energy networks improved solar energy utilization, reduced the effective electricity prices paid by households purchasing electricity through the network, and also improved users' perception of fairness within the energy system.</p><p>In other words, the software did not change how efficiently a solar panel generated electricity—but it may have changed <strong>when that electricity was consumed</strong>.</p><h2><strong>The Next Step for Solar May Not Be Selling More Hardware</strong></h2><p>According to <strong>Enosi</strong>, after <strong>Adopt A Panel</strong> was launched in <strong>May 2025</strong>, the program attracted <strong>60,000 customers within six months</strong>, with <strong>66%</strong> of them being new Plenitude customers. The capacity of the initial solar farm was quickly fully allocated, prompting Plenitude to add more capacity.</p><p>Traditionally, when users installed residential solar panels or home battery systems, they were purchasing tangible physical assets. The logic behind <strong>"Adopt A Panel"</strong> is different. The solar farm remains the same. The electricity grid remains the same. What has been added is <strong>a digital layer</strong>.</p><p>This digital system connects solar generation data, smart meter data, user accounts, and electricity billing into a single platform. As a result, part of the generation capacity of a utility-scale solar farm can be redesigned as a retail energy product for residential customers. For renters and apartment residents, the barrier to accessing solar energy becomes much lower. For electricity retailers, it creates a new way to connect renewable energy assets with end customers. </p><p>Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the project is that it attempts to solve a far more practical question:</p><p><strong>As more renewable power plants come online, can we more accurately identify when each kilowatt-hour was generated, where it came from, and who actually consumed it?</strong></p><p>In the past, the electricity grid functioned much like a large reservoir—generators poured electricity into it, and consumers simply drew electricity out. Today, however, smart meters, digital settlement systems, and energy-tracking software are adding much more detailed labels to that "reservoir."</p><p><strong>When was this electricity generated? Which renewable asset produced it? Who consumed it during the same time interval? How should it be priced? </strong>Once these questions can be answered systematically, what energy companies sell in the future may no longer be just electricity.</p><p>It could be <strong>a virtual share of a solar farm</strong>, <strong>green electricity generated during a specific time period</strong>, or <strong>an energy service settled according to the current renewable generation profile</strong>.</p><p>The hardware has not disappeared. But on top of that hardware, <strong>an entirely new business model is beginning to emerge.</strong></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:15px">Relevant Research Reports Download👉:</span></p><p><span style="color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:15px"> </span><a href="https://energyplanet.cn/post/50" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The benefits of hyper-utilisation of consumer energy resources(CERs)through a Virtual Energy Network(VEN)</a> </p>