Hello everyone,
I have now gathered several quotes for a photovoltaic system and have settled on a regional provider. They gave me the best overall impression and offered the fairest price with the best components. The 8 kW system with a 10 kW battery storage costs 17,500 euros. At first, that was more expensive than I expected when I started looking at this somewhat naively. By now, I have seen everything from 5 kW peak systems with 4 kW storage in a similar price range up to 10 kW with 10 kW storage for around 25,000 euros, a mix of regional and nationwide providers. So I think the price is reasonable. The 8 kW system is planned on the south side, and now there is an option to also install panels on a dormer facing north. That would bring the total to just over 11 kW for 21,000 euros. Do you think that is worth it? I am a bit hesitant to spend the additional 4,500 euros for electricity demand that I currently do not have (my current electricity consumption is about 2,500 kWh/year), and I also already have a small balcony system. I might replace my heating with a heat pump in the future, but that is not certain yet, and maybe someday an electric car will come, but that is not planned in the next few years. So my question is: would you recommend the smaller system or should I go for the larger one (especially since I have a few other projects where I could use the money)?
What is your opinion about the structural inspection? The quotes say there will be a visual inspection. I assume that will not hold up as a proper structural engineering report. On the other hand, my roof on the south side has almost a 40-degree pitch and was built in the mid-1990s, so hopefully it is strong enough. I don’t know anyone in my circle who has asked a structural engineer for this, but you never know. What do you think? On the north side, I actually feel it might be more critical—firstly, because snow tends to stay longer there (if it ever falls), and secondly because the dormer only has about a 15-degree pitch.
I look forward to your opinions. By the way, I live near the Swiss border, so prices are correspondingly higher here.
I have now gathered several quotes for a photovoltaic system and have settled on a regional provider. They gave me the best overall impression and offered the fairest price with the best components. The 8 kW system with a 10 kW battery storage costs 17,500 euros. At first, that was more expensive than I expected when I started looking at this somewhat naively. By now, I have seen everything from 5 kW peak systems with 4 kW storage in a similar price range up to 10 kW with 10 kW storage for around 25,000 euros, a mix of regional and nationwide providers. So I think the price is reasonable. The 8 kW system is planned on the south side, and now there is an option to also install panels on a dormer facing north. That would bring the total to just over 11 kW for 21,000 euros. Do you think that is worth it? I am a bit hesitant to spend the additional 4,500 euros for electricity demand that I currently do not have (my current electricity consumption is about 2,500 kWh/year), and I also already have a small balcony system. I might replace my heating with a heat pump in the future, but that is not certain yet, and maybe someday an electric car will come, but that is not planned in the next few years. So my question is: would you recommend the smaller system or should I go for the larger one (especially since I have a few other projects where I could use the money)?
What is your opinion about the structural inspection? The quotes say there will be a visual inspection. I assume that will not hold up as a proper structural engineering report. On the other hand, my roof on the south side has almost a 40-degree pitch and was built in the mid-1990s, so hopefully it is strong enough. I don’t know anyone in my circle who has asked a structural engineer for this, but you never know. What do you think? On the north side, I actually feel it might be more critical—firstly, because snow tends to stay longer there (if it ever falls), and secondly because the dormer only has about a 15-degree pitch.
I look forward to your opinions. By the way, I live near the Swiss border, so prices are correspondingly higher here.
D
derdietmar25 Mar 2026 08:30Hello,
From a purely economic perspective, the rule for standard households still applies: maximum possible utilization with no or only a small battery storage.
If you don’t have a special use case, the battery storage is practically always full in summer, and the system consistently provides enough power to meet your demand. The battery only needs to cover you through the night and buffer smaller fluctuations during the day. In winter, the battery is almost always empty, especially when using a heat pump, and the photovoltaic system’s output barely covers your basic consumption.
Battery storage has already become significantly cheaper. However, it still only makes sense up to a size of about 6 kW, as the payback period increases rapidly or even exceeds the battery’s lifetime with larger storage systems.
Andreas Schmitz (Akkudoktor) may talk a lot of green propaganda regarding political topics, but his publications on the physics and economics of photovoltaic systems, battery storage, and heating systems are very good and often accurately reflect reality. So you can do your own calculations:
Google: akkudoktor photovoltaic tool
Your prices are too high. Without battery storage, prices below 1000 euros per kWp are easily achievable for a system.
Best regards
From a purely economic perspective, the rule for standard households still applies: maximum possible utilization with no or only a small battery storage.
If you don’t have a special use case, the battery storage is practically always full in summer, and the system consistently provides enough power to meet your demand. The battery only needs to cover you through the night and buffer smaller fluctuations during the day. In winter, the battery is almost always empty, especially when using a heat pump, and the photovoltaic system’s output barely covers your basic consumption.
Battery storage has already become significantly cheaper. However, it still only makes sense up to a size of about 6 kW, as the payback period increases rapidly or even exceeds the battery’s lifetime with larger storage systems.
Andreas Schmitz (Akkudoktor) may talk a lot of green propaganda regarding political topics, but his publications on the physics and economics of photovoltaic systems, battery storage, and heating systems are very good and often accurately reflect reality. So you can do your own calculations:
Google: akkudoktor photovoltaic tool
Your prices are too high. Without battery storage, prices below 1000 euros per kWp are easily achievable for a system.
Best regards
N
nordanney25 Mar 2026 08:32MachsSelbst schrieb:
Installing an additional 3kWp facing north for 4,500 EUR is really nonsense. Yep.
MachsSelbst schrieb:
Just as much nonsense as basing the price on some module purchase prices when it includes the cost of the company that installs and connects everything. Who posted those? The prices from @tomtom79 are actual prices for complete systems including installation and everything else (mostly at least, you can also click on the individual offers and check – they come from...
tomtom79 schrieb:
There is a forum where you can have offers evaluated I also use it sometimes myself, and I had my first system compared there as well, and even found a supplier for myself.
MachsSelbst schrieb:
But 8kWp or even 11, for a consumption of 2,500 kWh per year is quite something. Self-consumption is only part of the calculation. The plot of land should be as large as possible regardless of self-consumption. However, with a 4,500 EUR (about 5,100 USD) extra cost, it’s just printing money for the seller.
MachsSelbst schrieb:
Please remember that the feed-in tariff is currently under discussion It’s up for discussion. But once connected with a guaranteed tariff for 20 years, that discussion doesn’t matter at all.
H
HubiTrubi4025 Mar 2026 10:04Hello everyone,
Thank you for your feedback and for sharing the example quotes. However, all of these are from postal code areas located in completely different parts of Germany. I am situated near the Swiss border, close to Lake Constance. Most of the systems mentioned are also significantly larger. If I consider a somewhat larger system with 11 kW, the price drops to around 1500 euros/kWp (without storage). However, that still means an additional 4500 euros that I could currently use elsewhere. What kind of quotation platform is this anyway? By the way, I have already requested 5 or 6 quotes, and this was the most reasonable one. I feel confident with it. I prefer to work regionally because if something were to happen, a provider from Schleswig-Holstein wouldn’t be of any help. The offer from a major provider advertising the cheapest solar system in Germany was also not cheaper.
Thank you for your feedback and for sharing the example quotes. However, all of these are from postal code areas located in completely different parts of Germany. I am situated near the Swiss border, close to Lake Constance. Most of the systems mentioned are also significantly larger. If I consider a somewhat larger system with 11 kW, the price drops to around 1500 euros/kWp (without storage). However, that still means an additional 4500 euros that I could currently use elsewhere. What kind of quotation platform is this anyway? By the way, I have already requested 5 or 6 quotes, and this was the most reasonable one. I feel confident with it. I prefer to work regionally because if something were to happen, a provider from Schleswig-Holstein wouldn’t be of any help. The offer from a major provider advertising the cheapest solar system in Germany was also not cheaper.
N
nordanney25 Mar 2026 10:17HubiTrubi40 schrieb:
However, they are all located in postal code areas that are in completely different parts of Germany That doesn’t say much. I live in a 46 postal code area, the company came from 08.
HubiTrubi40 schrieb:
What kind of offer platform is that? It’s not an offer platform. It’s a discussion site where users post and discuss their offers. Instead of house construction... then photovoltaic...
I hope you understand ;-)
H
HubiTrubi4025 Mar 2026 10:26Ahh... okay, thanks.
We’ll see. I’ll take a look.
Regarding the storage: I also find the 6 kW more reasonable, but the 9 kW only costs 800 euros more. I’m thinking that in the long run, it might be worth the investment.
We’ll see. I’ll take a look.
Regarding the storage: I also find the 6 kW more reasonable, but the 9 kW only costs 800 euros more. I’m thinking that in the long run, it might be worth the investment.
S
Siedler3425 Mar 2026 13:04Definitely, with the slightly larger storage capacity, you can make much better use of variable electricity rates.
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