Yale Environment 360 has discovered an increasing number of German homeowners are adding batteries to store solar power. Therefore, they expect to see a solar panel on every roof, and an EV in every garage someday. Plus a battery in every basement as prices come down with economies of scale.
The Benefits Outweigh the Costs Say German Homeowners
Over 120,000 German homeowners have dug deep in their pockets to acquire solar units with batteries already. “No one expected this kind of growth, so fast.” So says Kai-Philipp Kairies, power generation and storage systems expert at Aachen University in western Germany.
As a result, one out of every two solar rooftop panel systems sold in Germany now comes with a battery storage system. As one satisfied customer told Yale Environment 360, theirs will pay off in ten years. “After that, most of our electricity won’t cost us anything” and that’s a great hedge against rising energy prices. Thus, this recent uptake demonstrates the growing appeal of the green vision.
Does This Herald More Decentralized Power Generation?
It certainly seems German homeowners want to shift away from large power stations to home batteries. That’s because it is simply more efficient to generate the electricity where you need it, they say. Therefore, this could be an opportunity for a low carbon economy to emerge.
Fluctuating, decentralized renewable power generation is catching on fast in Europe, where governments have active global warming awareness. Moreover, the ability of consumers to sell their surplus power back to grid removes resistance to large capital investments up front.
New rules in California require all new homes constructed from 2020 onward to have solar panels. Solar arrays cost between $8,000 and $11,000 with a similar amount for batteries and inverter. Expensive, but an investment in our future we should consider for the sake of our kids.
Related
California Gets a Step Closer to Mandatory Solar Power
German Utilities Threatened by Storage Batteries
Preview Image: Single Family Home in Germany (Enerix)
