Talking New Energy: The rise of plug n’ play solar

[00:00:03.040] - Jon Slowe

Welcome to Talking New Energy, a podcast from LCP Delta. I'm Jon Slowe.

[00:00:07.910] - Charmaine Coutinho

And I'm Charmaine Coutinho. Together we're exploring how the energy transition is unfolding across Europe through conversations with guests at the leading edge.

[00:00:18.560] - Jon Slowe

Hello and welcome to the episode. Today, in this bite-sized episode, we're looking at balcony solar. And to help me understand more about this quickly growing sector, I'm joined by Dina Darshini, LCP Delta expert on this topic. Hello, Dina.

[00:00:35.510] - Dina Darshini

Hi. Hi, Jon.

[00:00:36.600] - Jon Slowe

Hi, Dina. Some of our listeners might have a balcony with solar on, but many may not even heard of this yet. So, can you give us a quick sketch of what balcony solar is?

[00:00:49.770] - Dina Darshini

Yeah, no problem. So I mean, a balcony solar PV system, we think about it, it's a compact ply n' play photovoltaic panels. And the whole point is it's designed for easy installation of balconies or railings or walls. So, it's not your typical big rooftop system that might be anywhere sized between 3 to 20 kilowatt. These are typically much smaller. And it helps, you know, it allows sort of urban apartment residents to generate renewable electricity without needing a full scale rooftop system.

[00:01:24.230] - Jon Slowe

Okay, so the panels, if you've got a balcony, they'll be attached to the railings of the balcony, for example. And what sort of size output are we talking about for a typical balcony system?

[00:01:35.890] - Dina Darshini

Right, so, I mean, they're relatively small. So, most systems in terms of the AC output, so they range between say 300 watt to 800 watt.

[00:01:45.370] - Jon Slowe

Okay.

[00:01:47.400] - Dina Darshini

But just, just to... This is mainly due to grid regulation. So, some European countries, like in Australia, Austria. Sorry. Limit the AC output to 600 watt. And some countries like France and Italy, allow up to 800 watts for unregistered systems.

[00:02:03.140] - Jon Slowe

Okay, and unregistered meaning you can just plug it in?

[00:02:06.120] - Dina Darshini

Basically, yeah, yeah.

[00:02:09.080] - Jon Slowe

Okay, so it is literally plug n' play.

[00:02:12.300] - Dina Darshini

Yeah, yeah. But just coming back to that point. So, it is. Now the ranges I gave, that's the AC output, so note the DC power. So, the panel output, solar panels themselves often will have a higher DC power rating. So, when we say 600 watt limit, that usually refers to the maximum AC power fed back into the grid, not the total DC capacity of the panels. So, there'll be a difference. But yeah, they're typically small. Let's frame it that way.

[00:02:43.850] - Jon Slowe

Okay, small. But in terms of annual generation or percentage of apartments demand that they'd meet, what are we talking?

[00:02:56.730] - Dina Darshini

Again, sizing is important. So, you know, you have to choose the right system size. You know, oversizing will lead to sort of wasted electricity while undersizing won't meet energy demands effectively. But let's just say it's sized properly, you got the right system and they're generating say around 500, 600 kilowatt hours per year. And you know, from, from field experience, you know, this can cover roughly 10 to 20% of an average apartment's annual electricity needs. Okay, so decent. Yeah, yeah.

[00:03:28.550] - Jon Slowe

Meaningful. Yeah. And I think it's really nice that it allows people that don't have a rooftop where they could put solar to play a part in the energy transition. So, both meaningful and a way of engaging customers to play a role in the transition. How common is this? What sort of numbers of systems are we seeing in the market at the moment?

[00:03:56.900] - Dina Darshini

So, they've recently become really popular, I suspect due to rising energy prices during the peak crisis time and government incentives in certain places. So, like in Berlin and Germany there was the Solar plus programme, which I think gave about €500 for tenants and owners in Berlin or flats to instal these systems. But you know, if I think of across Europe and particularly in Germany, there's over 1 million of these balcony systems already out there. This just shows the ease of installation and affordability really are making them an attractive option for urban energy consumers. And that's what's installed today. And if you just step back and think about the addressable market opportunity coming back to Germany, again, there's already 1 million balconies with these systems, but there's over 20 million individual multifamily home dwellings. And yes, a proportion of these won't be technically suitable. Fine, but even if 50% of these dwellings get a balcony system or these plug n' play systems, but you know, what a market opportunity. And there's countries like Spain and Italy and a few others with a very high ratio of multi-family home dwellings compared to single-family homes. So, you know, these are, you know, opportunities for the take and the average.

[00:05:23.310] - Jon Slowe

Sort of typical price, how much are we talking about for the system for an apartment owner to buy one of these?

[00:05:32.310] - Dina Darshini

I mean, it varies. Again, you have to account for incentives and things like that, but typically in the range of about thousand euros. So, including panels, inverters and mounting hardware. And so that's the CapEx. If you think about the sort of payback period, then again, depending on the country, depending on the electricity prices, the sunlight conditions, the, you know, the paybacks could range between four to seven years, I would say.

[00:06:00.640] - Jon Slowe

Okay, so yeah, €1,000, it's not insignificant but it's for many people an outlay they'll consider to reduce their bills, play a part in the energy transition. Are you seeing many, many panels with batteries at all or is that not really a thing for apartments?

[00:06:26.290] - Dina Darshini

So, I wouldn't say it's 100% attachment rate. So, it's not that every one of these plug n' play solar come with a battery, but there are enough of the customers already pairing it with a small battery storage unit to of course store the electricity for later use. And you know, these are the customers who want to enhance self consumption and improve that efficiency. So, I say, you know, the, the only way is up. I think it's starting from a attachment rate but you know, I only see this growing.

[00:06:59.810] - Jon Slowe

Yeah, I think that's, that's amazingly coolant. Can you really instal these without, well, without an electrician? I guess you can because you can in some many countries at least you can just plug them in. But the mounting I imagine you've got to be very careful with. On the railing, on the outside of the railings on the balcony.

[00:07:24.760] - Dina Darshini

Yeah, no, definitely. So, I mean these systems of course are designed to be plug n' play, so meaning they can be you know, kind of directly plugged into the sort of standard household socket. You know, just like I said just now, some regions there are some electrical regulation so you may require professional installation or grid registration. And I guess I also personally bit more risk averse in nature so I would recommend a certified electrician to ensure the, you know, structural safety and compliance with all that stuff. But the in principle they are designed to be plug n' play so they should be easy enough to just install as is.

[00:08:05.990] - Jon Slowe

Yeah, okay, well that's... I think that's an amazing growth to get to a million systems. What do you think? What's your view of the next years? Do you think that growth will continue or who's driving that growth or will it become a common offering from energy retailers do you think?

[00:08:30.100] - Dina Darshini

So, I think it'll be a mix. So, let's handle that question one step at a time. So, we're only at the start of the journey for balcony or these plug n' play systems. Okay, so the regulation needs to be there, it needs to be positive and encouraging and clear. And then customers need to be aware that this is an option. So, there's an education piece there as well. And then as more and more of these systems get put on railings and balconies, you know, visually you can see these things out there. So, that network effect where you know, it starts to become just a matter of whether you want to instal, not a matter of, okay, do I need to believe in whether it works or not? And so this, this takes time. But coming back to you then, second question. You know, who's leading this from the supplier side? So, I would say it's a mix. There are a lot more new players. So, it's not your typical players that you would associate with the rooftop residential solar PV systems. So, not your Enpal, the 1KOMMA5° and all that. These are different sets of players.

[00:09:46.890] - Dina Darshini

But I think energy retailers and sort of large entities that have a large existing customer base are playing a role as well. So, they might look to offer that as well on top of rooftop solar systems or all the other product portfolios. So like, I think EDP once considered it and Enel X is offering it and you know, definitely I keep hearing more and more from energy retailers. They are asking, you know, should this be something they consider in their portfolio?

[00:10:22.270] - Jon Slowe

It's a nice cross sell to your customers, isn't it?

[00:10:24.560] - Dina Darshini

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.

[00:10:28.020] - Jon Slowe

Okay, brilliant. Well, thanks Dina. That's a great whistle. Top tour of the balcony PV market. And to everyone listening, if you've got an apartment and it's not north facing and you haven't got solar PV on your balcony or haven't looked at it, maybe have a look. Thanks for listening and we look forward to welcoming you back to another episode soon. Thanks and goodbye.

[00:10:52.810] - Charmaine Coutinho

Thanks for tuning in.

[00:10:54.650] - Jon Slowe

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[00:11:02.870] - Charmaine Coutinho

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