ᐅ Photovoltaic Systems: Advantages, Disadvantages, Experiences, and Is It Worthwhile?

I am new to this field and still mix up the technical terms.
What I meant by economical is more about how much electricity you can save with a photovoltaic system since you need less from the utility provider, and after how many years it pays off compared to the initial purchase cost.
Regarding the battery: It would serve as a buffer when, for example, no one is home during the day and only the basic consumers (heat pump, ventilation system, devices on standby) are running, but the photovoltaic system produces more electricity than needed. This way, electricity can be supplied in the evening hours when demand increases again, thus reducing the amount of electricity purchased from the grid. Sorry if this sounds very basic—I lack experience—but maybe you can follow my idea.
Primarily, the photovoltaic system and battery should help better match self-consumption and make one less dependent on peak times (sunlight hours).

Bau_Bambi schrieb:
Primarily, photovoltaic panels and batteries are intended to better cover self-consumption and make you less dependent on peak times (sunlight hours).

Well, batteries also come at a high cost. Furthermore, self-consumption is not free and may be subject to taxation. Carefully consider how much electricity you actually need at night during sunny periods (when there is daylight well into the evening). Which appliances do you plan to power?

In my opinion, batteries are still too expensive right now to be economically viable.

I’ll try to explain it again in a simple way.

You install a photovoltaic system on your roof, which generates a predictable amount of electricity per year.
In a typical household, you can directly use about 30% of that electricity yourself and feed the remaining 70% back into the grid.
This 30% can vary, but ideally, you would use it during the day to heat water with a heat pump, run the washing machine and dryer, or—as you mentioned—use the heat pump for cooling.
The 70% you feed back gets compensated.
Depending on the system size, you receive more or less compensation than you pay for the additional electricity you need to buy.
Either way, after about 10 to 12 years, you have recovered the costs of the system. Viewed unemotionally, it’s an investment with roughly a 3–4% annual return, which is quite good given the current zero-interest-rate environment.

If you want to maximize your self-consumption to more than 30%, you could add a battery. It can be sized so that from April to October you barely need to buy any electricity. That sounds great at first, but the problem is that a battery costs as much as you would pay for that electricity over 20 to 30 years, and the battery itself, if you’re lucky, lasts about 15 years—so financially it’s a losing proposition.
If money is not your main concern and your goal is simply to use as much self-generated electricity as possible, then it can be a nice option.

nordanney schrieb:

I currently find batteries still too expensive to be used economically.

On the other hand, you bring a fire risk into the house. Although it is in the parts per million (PPM) range, if the thing catches fire, you can say goodbye to your home. There’s no putting out a fire like that...

I would definitely buy my system again. I generate 50% of the total electricity I need myself, and the rest is fed into the grid... the system has already paid for itself after 7 years. I am very satisfied.

Really 7 years? Mine paid off after just 1 year. That took quite a long time in your case..