ᐅ Solar / Photovoltaics from an Economic Perspective

Exactly, that’s an additional factor.

Hmm, so far I don’t see any significant disadvantages of solar thermal… everything that has been mentioned also applies to photovoltaic systems…

If the compensation for the electricity is eventually removed, the situation will be the same for photovoltaic systems…

In Germany, neither option is really worthwhile…

Mycraft schrieb:
Hmm, so far I don’t see any significant disadvantages of solar thermal… everything mentioned also applies to photovoltaics…

If the feed-in tariff for electricity disappears at some point, the situation will be the same for photovoltaics…

In Germany, neither is really worthwhile…

That’s a somewhat general judgment, and you probably don’t have either.

Without going into detailed calculations, a photovoltaic system typically pays off after about 12-15 years – depending on the agreed feed-in tariff, the interest rate, the repayment quota, the self-consumption achieved, and the current electricity price.

You are right – after 20 years the fixed feed-in tariff ends. However, the system should still produce energy (hopefully) – even though it is fully depreciated, you still feed in electricity (possibly additional but lower yields) and continue to benefit from self-consumption.

I do believe the system will prove to be economical – but not as early as around 8-10 years.

f-pNo schrieb:
However, the system will (hopefully) continue to produce electricity even after it is fully depreciated, you will still feed energy into the grid (though possibly at lower yields) and continue to benefit from self-consumption.

The system’s efficiency decreases over the years, and if the inverter fails even once, the whole optimistic calculation is at risk.

That’s what I mean... and it is almost certain that the inverter and the cells will need to be replaced after just over 10 years... there are plenty of examples.

In a single-family home, common solar systems—whether photovoltaic or thermal—are completely unprofitable and at best only break even...

Of course, if you have a factory roof or something similar available, it looks very different...

How would it work if solar thermal panels were connected to the underfloor heating system?
In winter, they wouldn’t provide much benefit. However, they should be able to cover the transitional periods.