In June 2021 I put my mini solar system into operation and since then I have been producing energy with the help of the sun, which I use directly in my apartment and therefore do not have to pay. In this article, I will tell you how much energy I have produced, used, and saved in the last 12 months.
Mini solar system: balcony power plant over 1 year
A mini plug-in solar system is an easy way to produce your own energy that you use directly. If you produce more, you will not be paid for it, since there is a simplified approval for this type of system. What to consider I have summarized here. But how much power has my 600-watt system actually produced in the last 12 months, and how much money have I saved with it? Let’s look at the Income from September 2021 to August 2022 inclusive – exactly 12 months.
Since I have a FritzBox, I have the AVM FRITZ!DECT 210 smart outdoor socket (look amazon) used to measure energy flow. So it looks like this:
Individual months at a glance
- September 2021: 32 kWh
- October 2021: 22 kWh
- November 2021: 8.8 kWh
- December 2021: 3.1 kWh
- January 2022: 5.1 kWh
- February 2022: 15 kWh
- March 2022: 43 kWh
- April 2022: 62 kWh
- May 2022: 67 kWh
- June 2022: 71 kWh
- July 2022: 64 kWh
- August 2022: 67 kWh
- Total: 460kWh
I have the 460 kWh that my balcony power plant produced effectively consumes 340 kWh. I did not use 120 kWh and gave it to my network operator. You can use the 2-way electricity meter to see how much energy you have injected into the grid. You don’t get any compensation for this with a mini solar system.
I really saved so much money
A kWh currently costs me around 30 cents. so i have 102 euros saved on electricity costs. My system costs 800 euros. After eight years, the system would have paid for itself and, with a useful life of around 25 years, would continue to produce electricity for another 17 years for free. If electricity prices continue to rise, the power station on my balcony will pay for itself much sooner. Either way, you make a lot of profit in the long run. And I’m not fully exploiting the potential, as you can read below.
What you need to know about balcony power plants:
Important details about my solar system
From June 2021 to March 2022, my solar system was on the ground and often in the shade. Since I hung up the solar panels (see title image), the performance has been much better since April 2022. So I expect even more performance in the next 12 months, but you have to make sure that you use all the electricity you produce. From October to February, the sun doesn’t shine enough to produce much energy. The sun is low there and there is also a big tree in my path, whose shadow falls on the solar panels from around 3 pm So if you don’t have shadows, you can make better use of the sunny hours.
That is the most important lesson for me – it is extremely important to correctly align the balcony power plant. The more sun it captures and then uses the energy, the more valuable such a system becomes. But even if conditions aren’t as ideal as mine, a mini plug-in solar system is worth it. You just have to have the (right) place for it.