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Free electricity with a balcony power plant: when the mini solar system is really worth it

2023-04-17T13:49:57.693Z


Balcony power plants are a way of producing electricity yourself and are popular as part of the energy transition. What is to be considered?


Balcony power plants are a way of producing electricity yourself and are popular as part of the energy transition.

What is to be considered?

Munich – With the energy turnaround, the importance of decentralized solar systems for self-generation of electricity is also growing.

One possibility are so-called balcony power plants.

What is to be considered?

An overview.

What is a balcony power plant?

Balcony power plants are compact solar systems that are usually installed on balconies.

The solar system generates free solar power, which can be fed into the grid immediately.

Although the term balcony power plants refers to the attachment to balconies, the solar systems are also on terraces, facades, carports or similar, "a lucrative and sustainable way to benefit from solar energy," advertise manufacturers of balcony power plants.

How does a balcony power plant work?

A balcony power plant consists of a solar module and a module inverter.

The solar energy is first generated in direct current by the solar module and converted into alternating current by the inverter for feeding into your own electrical house supply network.

The solar module is connected to the inverter via the MC4 standard connector.

This is connected to any house socket with a 230V output cable or with a Wieland plug or permanent wiring.

From a purely physical point of view, the connected devices prefer to use solar power (because the distance to the device is shorter than from the local power plant), only when this is not sufficient does the normal mains power fall back on.

Since the self-produced electricity is consumed immediately, the electricity meter stands still.

+

Balcony power plants can produce decentralized solar power.

© Stefan Sauer/dpa

Can I use a balcony power plant in a rented apartment?

That depends on the rental agreement.

If it stipulates that no changes may be made to the facade without prior consent, you must speak to the landlord.

If there is no regulation in this regard, there is nothing to be said against it.

What happens when a balcony power plant produces too much electricity?

As a rule, the electricity is consumed from a balcony power plant - also because there are stand-by devices in almost every household, such as refrigerators, freezers, computers, televisions, routers, etc., which constantly draw electricity.

In the rare event that there is actually a surplus, the electricity is fed into the public grid.

However, the supplier does not want electricity to be fed into the grid via the counter running backwards.

Therefore, most electricity suppliers offer a free conversion to a new meter with a backstop.

How quickly does a balcony power plant pay for itself?

Cover the standby consumption and save ten to 15 percent of the electricity costs.

This is what the purchase of a balcony power plant with a typical output of 600 watts is all about, according to the information portal

cleanthinking.de

.

This corresponds to the use of two modern solar modules in connection with a micro-inverter.

The average investment costs are around 1000 euros - buyers benefit from the fact that the VAT for corresponding mini solar systems has been reduced to zero.



However, how quickly a balcony power plant pays for itself depends on a number of factors: In short, the three main factors for the amortization period of a balcony power plant are energy consumption and solar radiation

and the price of electricity.

According to optimistic calculations, balcony power plants have a payback period of between five and nine years.

List of rubrics: © Stefan Sauer/dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2023-04-17

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