One million balcony solar systems in Germany

Bonn/Berlin (dpa/d.de) – The number of balcony solar systems in Germany has roughly doubled within a year and now stands at around one million. This is shown by data published by the Market Master Data Register and estimates by the German Solar Industry Association (BSW).  

“While solar panels on rooftops have long been standard in residential areas, the solar boom is now increasingly reshaping the appearance of inner cities through balcony installations. Ever broader sections of the population are benefiting from the solar energy transition,” said BSW director Carsten Körnig.  

Balcony solar systems are small photovoltaic units. They are often mounted on balconies, although this is not essential. Their connection capacity is limited to 800 watts. In sunlight, they feed electricity into the owner’s home network via a standard socket, reducing the amount of electricity drawn from the grid – this saving is the system’s financial return. If more electricity is generated than consumed, the surplus is fed into the grid without compensation. The cost of purchasing a balcony solar system typically pays off within a few years.  

The share of such systems in national electricity production remains modest: currently registered balcony installations have a combined output of around 0.9 gigawatts.