Gas with solar thermal? Or heat pump with photovoltaics? Consultation

In Middle Franconia, according to PVGIS, 3% of the annual photovoltaic output is produced in January. This means you will hardly notice it with regard to the heat pump, but that does not mean that photovoltaic is a bad investment over 10-15 years, quite the opposite. However, you should forget the idea that photovoltaic noticeably supports the heat pump. If, for example, you plan a split air conditioner or other consumers with high energy demand for the summer, the energy is virtually free.

I am faced with the same question. ...

Thank you for the good compilation of arguments. My husband and I also decided on the gas burner boiler plus solar thermal for our new build in 2020.

The tendency for me is clearly towards gas even though the heat pump concept awakens my playful spirit.

Yes, it is a wise decision to control your urge to tinker with gas a little, otherwise you might end up in the newspaper faster than you want.

Maybe also quite interesting: Some providers have/had actions like: "Günstig ans Gasnetz" (ENSO), "Aktion Gasanschluss".. you can save a lot on the connection.. so definitely ask about it

An experience. In August 2017, the plug was inserted. It went into operation. Gas boiler Junkers Cerapur xyz. Since that moment, nothing. No error message. Not even touched. Runs, runs, runs. 60,- gas per month. House always equally warm. Mature, good technology. During the same time, the neighbor with an air-water heat pump from Junkers already had the heating specialists several times. Something was not working. Either the power consumption was out of control, or the house was not warm, or hardly any hot water….

Here in Middle Franconia, according to PVGIS, about 3% of the yearly photovoltaic output is lost in January. So you will hardly notice it regarding the heat pump, but that does not mean that photovoltaic is a bad investment over 10-15 years, quite the opposite. However, you should forget about photovoltaic noticeably supporting the heat pump. For example, if you plan an air conditioning split unit or other consumers with high energy demand in summer, the energy is virtually free.

You have hot water all year round, and you can perfectly charge or even overcharge the storage at midday with photovoltaic.
Even in the transition period, you can use the electricity at midday to heat up the building.

One experience. In August 2017, the plug was plugged in. It started operating. Gas boiler Junkers Cerapur xyz. Since that moment nothing. No error messages. Not even touched. Runs, runs, runs. €60 gas per month. House always equally warm. Mature good technology.
In the same time, a neighbor with a Junkers air-to-water heat pump had the heating specialists come several times. Something was wrong. Either the power consumption ran out of control, or the house was not warm, or hardly any warm water…

Individual cases are always a tricky thing…

I don’t know your energy standard, but with a KFW55 with photovoltaic you can easily manage with half.

You have hot water all year round and you can perfectly charge or even overcharge the storage tank at midday with photovoltaics.
Even in the transitional period, you can use the electricity at midday to heat the building.

Certainly from the end of March to the beginning of October. But I was already referring to the dark season when the heat pump has the highest consumption. You can research for yourself on PVGIS what comes down at your place in December, January, and February. For me in the south, it is just under 3% of the annual yield. Whether anything at all comes off for the hot water with a maximum of 8kWh per day with the other consumers?! Like controlled ventilation, refrigerator, and everything else that also runs on standby, etc. Even the storage tank consumes electricity!

But I can report to you first-hand from next week whether the storage tank gets full. I have a suspicion there