Germans do know it and balcony solar systems are booming here. They are small solar systems with 1-2 modules that you simply plug into an outlet. And that's it. You produce up to 800W of electricity, reduce your power bill and they are dirt cheap - german deals pages sometimes have them for under 200€.

They are easy to install (just place them somewhere where the sun is shining and bolt/strap them down so that they are stormproof) and plug them into an outlet. You will pay less for electricity, it helps in the fight against climate change and has the neat effect that you buy less fossil fuels from Russia, the USA, Saudi-Arabia, Katar and other nice countries.

Your local regulations might vary and you might have to discuss this with your landlord. The regulations in Germany are quite relaxed, you basically have a right to use them even in rental properties.

And if you have the space: Think bigger and buy a bigger solar system for your roof. They rock and it's awesome to produce your own electricity.

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[–] HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com 4 points 2 days ago

plug into outlet???

[–] GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 days ago

I wish these were legal and readily available in Sweden. I'd buy one and put it on my balcony, for sure.

[–] iii@mander.xyz 3 points 3 days ago (2 children)

As a rule of thumb, I would say that the devices will pay for themselves after about 5 to 10 years, depending on household consumption, sun, orientation, acquisition costs, etc.

How does residential electricity pricing work in Germany? How does renumeration work for the generated power that's not consumed locally?

[–] nahostdeutschland@feddit.org 6 points 3 days ago

It's difficult. You won't get anything for energy that is getting fed into the grid with balcony solar. If you're lucky and have an old meter, that will spin backwards and that is highly profitable and therefore the newer meters won't allow it. If you have a "real" solar installation, you will get around 8 cents / kWh for everything you feed into the grid.

But since those small systems are cut of at 800W, you won't feed that much back into the grid.

[–] Oneser@lemm.ee 4 points 3 days ago

Renumeration rarely makes sense in these systems. But with the price of storage as low as it is at the moment, battery coupling wherever possible is the way to go!