‘If 1.5m Germans have them there must be something in it’: how balcony solar is taking off
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I had no idea that is possible??? Is that special for Germany?
I mean, the regulation seems to be, but there's no fancy tech going on. I'm not an electrician but I think I can explain, as I have recently tried to understand it as well.
So German wall outlets usually have a 16 A fuse and the wiring in the walls is dimensioned for safety reasons to accommodate slightly higher current (I think they are 2.5mm² gauge allowing up to 20 A but don't quote me on that particular part). I suppose it would be the same or very similar in Denmark, or maybe most of Europe that uses 230V/50Hz AC.
Now, normally, if you have dangerously powerful load that would melt your wires, let's say 5 kW, and you plug it in to an outlet the fuse will just pop and you're safe. If however you have a 2 kW PV system connected to a wall outlet nearby, it would theoretically be possible that your 5 kW load draws 13 A (3 kW) from the mains through the fuse and another 8.7 A (2 kW) from the PV system over the same wire in the wall that is only rated at 20 A but now carries 21.7 A. And the fuse would never pop at 13A. A fire hazard. The number of 800 Watts is basically just what will always comfortably fit into the safety margin of the wiring in German houses. All higher power systems need to be hardwired "behind" the fuse box so that every Amp goes through the normal 16 A fuse.
still such an 800W system is dirt cheap by comparison
Absolutely. I guess the low threshold for installation allows some kind of mass market economy of scale.
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There are already a few requirements for operating the balcony panels, At least here in Germany:
- You need a suitable electricity meter
- You have to register with a relevant authority and inform the electricity provider that you are operating a “balcony power plant”.
- The microconverter should run on its own secured circuit. (“Should”, will certainly do very few)
But technically it is simple:
- Set up panels
- Connecting necessary plugs
- Microconverter to the socket
- Be happy that you produce up to 800 watts of your own electricity
I think it's almost irrelevant how many panels you ultimately split up. However, no more than 800 watts may be fed in.But if you have panels with, let's say, 2000 watts, you can of course charge various batteries with them beforehand. Nobody can say anything against it.
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Would be nice if grid tied inverters weren’t such a regulatory PITA. Micro-deployment solar, and more importantly distributed energy storage, makes so much sense and could solve a lot of grid-related problems.
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Wait that’s a thing?
Holy shit that a thing!? That’s awesome!!
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If you pay 3000€ for an inverter then that's probably included installing and whatnot. You can get a cheap 50€ 4kW inverter on aliexpress, or an expensive 500€ 10kW one.
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French electricity enters the chat.
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This is really nice! This is the future!
I'd love to know how much they produce, especially during the winter/monthly.
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Just for your information : belgium is allowing the balcony solar panels this year, but they have put limits on which you can install. The power supplier needs to have approved the kit you install. This is just to prevent people from getting cheap crap from the internet.
Other than that, same rules! -
You need a suitable electricity meter
That makes sense, we also needed new meter, and that was about €200.- with installation. Not a big deal for a big installation, but for a system that can cost only €300.- an extra 200.- would be pretty significant.
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No the price was not including installation, We have 11.2 kW panels and 7.5 kWh batteries. Installation was almost $5000.- !!
That was probably mostly the 28 panels on the roof. But we had one installer handling everything, who was also responsible for the electrician. -
So why won't taller Germans get solar? I don't even see the connection to height... Oh, maybe they hit their heads on the panels... No, rooftop panels are already on the roof. I don't get it.
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There are two main inverter approaches. One big inverter that takes the DC from a bunch of panels and converts it into AC and micro inverters where each panel gets it's own small one placed directly under the panel.
The micro inverters cost around $150 each. So you need around 10 panels before the single inverter becomes a good choice.
Installers love the micro because the install is easier. However as a owner with say 30 panels you now have 30 points of possible failure instead of the 1.
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That's a massive installation though! Wow!
Also, you got a biig roof!
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Great post! Thanks for doing the math and explaining the concepts!
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In the Northern hemisphere, in Winter the Sun is at a low angle, so vertically oriented panels might produce more. As an example, I have a sunroom and at Winter's Solstice the sunlight reaches about 3-4 meters into the room. At Summer's Solstice there is no direct sunlight in the room, as the Sun is overhead.
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Do you have any numbers
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Am Bavarian can confirm. The CSU has been in power this state since forever. Especially old people just keep voting for them cause it's the way it always was.
They had to form a coalition after the last elections. Their partner is essentially the exact same party but even more right wing. Not even kidding, I could not name a single area where they differ other than their main guy apparently handed out nazi newspapers in his younger years or smth. He blamed it on his brother and then the scandal just died off. -
I have a sunroom, what sort of numbers are you asking for? It's a partly cloudy day, about 22C in the room, without heat. And about 7C outside.
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My dumb ass: “Is it just 1.5m Germans, or other heights too?”
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Usually not uglier than the balcony itself.
