Planning for balcony power plant and more

Hello everyone,

we are very interested in photovoltaics. Our idea is to start "small" with a balcony power plant, but definitely with the option to expand it to the roof later and maybe also add a heating element for hot water.

What it is really about is initially a balcony power plant with storage including a backup power function. It seems to us to make little sense to buy everything now just for the balcony power plant and then possibly have to replace many things later if more panels are installed on the roof afterwards?

Best regards

Leave out the battery and especially the heating element for hot water. With a balcony power plant, there is nothing left for the heating element, and a battery is again more difficult to register. I would proceed as follows:

1. Buy a balcony power plant
2. If you like it, expand to the roof. The balcony power plant does not have to be removed for this and can be re-registered so that you also receive the feed-in tariff for it.
3. Possibly buy a battery later. Emergency power only makes it unnecessarily expensive. Then switching devices would simply have to be installed in the distribution board that separate your house network from the supplier. When was the last time you had a power outage?
4. Erase the heating element from your minds.

I would simply separate it mentally:

- Balcony power plant with a small battery as a buffer - it doesn't cost a fortune and is quite practical at times. At friends', you can almost "remove" the battery and use it separately as a power supply in the garage or when camping

- Plan the solar system on the roof carefully and implement it according to your own wishes (with/without battery, with/without emergency power)

What it’s actually about is first of all a balcony power plant with storage including backup power function. It only seems little sensible to us to buy everything for the balcony power plant now and then possibly have to replace a lot later if you still have more panels installed on the roof afterwards?

Then you should either plan the balcony power plant small (no storage, no backup power function) or leave it.

Because except for the panel you won’t be able to reuse anything for a proper system. The inverter is too small, the storage will be too.

A balcony power plant is certainly sensible for covering basic needs, possibly with or without storage, and pays off relatively quickly due to the high EV share (about 2-3 years). Backup power is a joke for the size of the house. It might work for camping.

From my point of view, a large photovoltaic system has only been reasonable with storage since February due to the new legally enabled shutdown option. We put our system into operation shortly before without storage. If storage prices drop a bit more or electricity prices rise, we will certainly retrofit it. If you plan to do this soon, however, I would avoid the balcony power plant.