‘If 1.5m Germans have them there must be something in it’: how balcony solar is taking off
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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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Usually not uglier than the balcony itself.
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M in million should always be capitalised for this reason.
1.5M Germans vs 1.5m Germans
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Oh boy, apparently there's a lot I don't know. It's really cool there are those cheaper options now.
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Nice numbers
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Balcony solar is a set of diy technologies that require no utility permissions.
In Germany, NL, you can just plug it into socket and it works somehow.
In us you can use powerstations and also adapters that sync draw from battery as it charges from ac in house.
It pays for itself even with more expensive equipment, by not needed license, permission, that can lead to cheap efficient panels costing over 3$ per watt. Small systems that just offset use instead of selling back, have higher revenue offsets in high per kwh priced markets.
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couple of things to note:
- Not every balcony is southern facing
- Most older European homes don't have A/C yet, so electrical costs are more during the winter months (that trend will change though I imagine)
- I think the numbers @[email protected] was asking about involved power output, that of course depends on the size of your array, daily/monthly/yearly differences in weather, and all sorts of little nuances that's hard to say without averaging out years worth of data.
