ᐅ Electric Meter for Heat Pump in Combination with BAFA Subsidy and Photovoltaic System

Hangman schrieb:

You can skip the submeter because the function required by BAFA to measure the electricity consumption and heat output of the heat pump is already integrated into the heat pump itself – at least with our Vitocal (model 333):
[ATTACH alt="Vitocal I.jpg"]65280[/ATTACH] [ATTACH alt="Vitocal II.jpg"]65281[/ATTACH]

A special electricity tariff for the heat pump isn’t really necessary when you have photovoltaic panels anyway. So, one standard bidirectional meter used for photovoltaics is sufficient, and that’s it.

Great, thanks! Now I have all the necessary information gathered! 🙂

Hangman schrieb:

You can skip the intermediate meter because the function required by BAFA to determine the electricity consumption and heat output of the heat pump is integrated into the heat pump itself – at least with our Vitocal (model 333):
[ATTACH alt="Vitocal I.jpg"]65280[/ATTACH] [ATTACH alt="Vitocal II.jpg"]65281[/ATTACH]

A special electricity tariff for the heat pump is generally not needed if you have a photovoltaic system. So, a single two-way meter, as commonly used for photovoltaic systems, is sufficient.

Hello, thank you for your reply. I am considering whether this solution with the two-way meter is suitable for our project.
According to your answer, a two-way meter is sufficient when photovoltaic is already installed. What if the photovoltaic system is only added after 2–3 years?
So far, the electrician’s suggestion has been to install two separate electricity meters. However, if a photovoltaic system is installed later, only one meter would be needed. Therefore, I wonder why install two meters now, and is that practical? My main question is: what should I have installed now (to measure regular electricity and heat pump electricity) to be well prepared for later in 2–3 years (with an additional photovoltaic system)? I’m quite confused here.
P.S. We will be getting the Nibe S1255-6 S/W ground source heat pump.

Well, if you want two separate tariffs, you will also need two meters. This is not mandatory, of course – you could run the heat pump on your regular household electricity (which logically means only one meter). Whether a heat pump tariff is worthwhile depends on your own calculations.
Why do you plan to add photovoltaic panels in 2-3 years instead of installing them at the same time?

Hangman schrieb:

Well, if you want two separate tariffs now, you’ll also need two meters. However, this is not absolutely necessary—you could run the heat pump on the regular household electricity (which would logically require only one meter). Whether a heat pump tariff is worthwhile, you need to calculate yourself.
Why do you plan to add photovoltaic in 2-3 years and not include it right away?

We initially excluded it for cost reasons.
So, at the current time, it definitely makes sense to install two meters (if it is economically justified). But as soon as the photovoltaic system is installed, only space for one meter will be needed—the bidirectional meter you mentioned, right?

Pumpernickel1 schrieb:

We initially left them out for cost reasons.
So, at this point, it definitely makes sense to install two meters (provided it is economically viable). But as soon as the photovoltaic system is installed, you will only need space for one meter, namely the two-way meter you mentioned, right?

We decided on a single meter because the financial difference was minimal and we wanted to avoid the hassle of correctly cascading (is that the right term?) the meters.
You can ask your utility provider how much an additional meter will cost you annually, and then you need to find out what your expected electricity cost will be—once for two rates with their respective consumption and fixed charges, and once if everything runs on a single household electricity tariff. Then you can calculate the difference and see if the savings outweigh the cost of the second meter.

If you have two meters and photovoltaic panels, it depends on how the meters are wired if you want to use the photovoltaic electricity for both the heat pump and household consumption. This was very important to us because we also have air conditioning, and in summer, when lots of electricity is generated by the photovoltaic system, we usually run the air conditioning rather than the heat pump.
At some point, there is a branch where the surplus photovoltaic electricity is fed back into the grid. And, as far as I understand, the utility provider must offer the correct “model” so that the photovoltaic power can be used by both the heat pump and the household (and if that is possible—who has priority?), and only when neither needs it, it goes into the grid.
For us, that was too complicated, and the second meter didn’t really save much money either. Maybe about 10 euros per year, and since those were only estimates, it could have even turned out negative.