If you want a mini solar system, you should do that first
Balcony power plants are currently extremely popular, because you can easily generate electricity yourself and thus noticeably reduce your energy costs. But before you buy such a mini solar system, you should check your power requirements.
Read base load for balcony power plant
The balcony power plant is a great invention. If you don’t have space for some huge solar systems on the roof, you can simply get a mini solar system with two solar panels and plug them directly into the socket via an inverter. But before you invest about 500 euros, you should Check energy requirements. There are two things to do for this:
- base load: Every household has appliances that are always on. Together they generate a base load that you want to cover with a balcony power plant. To find out how high the base load is, you should ask your meter operator for the PIN for your digital electricity meter. Just call or write an email with your meter number and you will get the PIN. You can then unlock all the functions of your electricity meter and see how many watts you use.
- Daily routine: A balcony power plant doesn’t do you much good if you’re not there when the sun is shining to consume the electricity produced. In contrast to a normal solar system, you neither get paid for the excess nor can you store the energy. But if you work in the home office and thus consume energy during the day, then such a system is particularly worthwhile.
Tip: You can use this to evaluate your power consumption:
With these two pieces of information that don’t cost you anything, you can determine whether a balcony power plant is worthwhile for you. This is usually the case, because the base load in particular is often underestimated. Such a refrigerator or a freezer draw quite a lot of energy in 24 hours. In addition, all the stand-by devices that are always active anyway. That’s a few watts that can be covered with a balcony power plant.
If you then optimize your everyday life and, for example, use the washing machine or dishwasher when the sun is shining, you save even more, since solar energy covers part of the electricity costs.
You also need to know this:
Prices for balcony power plants have fallen sharply
In the meantime, the prices for balcony power plants have fallen massively. The mini solar system I bought about two years ago still cost 800 euros. You can now get a model from Netto for 500 euros and it has significantly more power. Since such a system usually lasts 25 years and sometimes longer, it is a good investment for anyone who has the space.
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