Sunshine and saving electricity: One million balcony power plants in Germany!

Sunshine and saving electricity: One million balcony power plants in Germany!

When the weather is sunny, many people enjoy nature, be it visiting outdoor pools, swimming in lakes or going on bike rides. But it's not just leisure activities that benefit from the beautiful weather: owners of balcony power plants can also enjoy the sun's rays. It is currently estimated that there are already around a million of these small solar systems in Germany, which feed electricity into the home grid via a socket when the sun is shining. This development was by radio one taken up and shows the unbroken boom of balcony power plants.

Balcony power plants, often mounted on balconies, have a connected load of up to 800 watts. The electricity generated is fed in via a standard socket. Savings on electricity purchases are the main motivation of users. However, the surplus that is fed into the public grid is billed without feed-in tariff. The German Solar Industry Association (BSW) reports that the number of balcony power plants has roughly doubled within a year. Half a million was already exceeded at the beginning of June 2024.

Growing popularity

The popularity of balcony power plants has its origins in the rising electricity prices after the start of the Ukraine war. Many households are looking for ways to reduce their energy costs and installing these small solar systems is an attractive solution for many people. The old federal government's regulations further simplified access and use of balcony power plants, contributing to an increase in installation.

The BSW has even reported that the one millionth plug-in solar device is already in operation. Figures from the market master data register show that around 975,583 systems are active, of which around 20,000 have been shut down. However, it should be noted that these figures fall short of the actual number of balcony power plants in operation.

Advantages and profitability

The investments in these small solar systems usually pay for themselves after a few years. However, profitability varies depending on cost, location and individual electricity consumption. Hermann-Josef Tenhagen, editor-in-chief of Finanztip.de, offers comprehensive information on this. A positive factor is that the prices for solar systems have fallen in recent years.

Although the share of balcony power plants in nationwide electricity generation is small - with a maximum installed output of around 0.9 gigawatts - they still represent an important contribution to the energy transition and the use of renewable energies. Overall, all solar systems in Germany have more than a hundred times this output, which underlines the relevance and success story of solar energy in Germany.