Germany Embraces Balkonkraftwerke – Balcony Solar for Apartments – CleanTechnica

Summary

Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. Lots of people, especially city dwellers and renters, don’t have rooftops where they can install solar panels to generate some of the electricity they use in their daily lives. Community solar offers a partial solution for some, but it is not available everywhere. In Germany, more than 1.5 million people have installed Balkonkraftwerke, which translates as “balcony power plants.” Almost every apartment has a balcony with a railing to keep folks from tumbling into the street below. If it gets any sun exposure during the day, balcony solar panels can be mounted to those railings to make electricity that helps power a home. Proponents say balcony solar panels are easy to install on railings (and uninstall if need be in the event of storms). Once in place, people simply plug a micro-inverter into an available wall outlet. Add a small battery to store any solar energy not needed right away and you have your own personal micro-minigrid inside your home. The systems sell for between $500 and $1000, depending on the number of solar panels purchased. A typical system consists of two 150-watt panels and can pay for itself in a few years. It is also highly portable, so it can easily be transported from one apartment to another if the owner moves. Germany Leads In Balcony Solar According to Grist, Germany now has more than 550,000 balcony solar installations, half of which were installed in 2023. During the first six months of 2024, Germany added 200 megawatts of balcony solar. Regulations limit each system to just 800 watts, which is enough to power a small fridge or charge a laptop, but the cumulative effect is nudging the country toward its clean energy goals while giving apartment dwellers, who make up more than half of the German population, an easy way to save money and address the climate crisis. Matthias Weyland, who lives in Keil, tells Grist, “I love the feeling of charging the bike when the su...