Households with their own PV system have a higher average electricity consumption than comparable households without a solar system. This is the result of the EE-Rebound project commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The additional consumption of electricity would result from the fact that there would be little financial incentive to save electricity due to self-consumption. As a result, despite the massive expansion of PV systems, less green energy is available in the grid than the advocates of the energy turnaround have predicted. Therefore, the owners of solar plants should consume less electricity themselves and feed more into the grid.
Owners of solar systems should consume less electricity themselves and feed more into the grid
According to Dr Matthias Pfaff of the Fraunhofer Institute, saving electricity is of central importance for climate protection. This also applies to renewable energies. “People are often advised to use as much of their own solar power as possible. So far, few owners of PV systems are aware that every kilowatt hour of solar power they feed into the grid is needed for the energy transition,” he says. The share of green electricity in Germany is to increase to 80 percent by 2030. Therefore, it is necessary to at least double the total output of smaller PV systems compared to today’s level. However, these affected households should feed the electricity produced into the grid.
In a policy paper, the researchers now call for higher feed-in tariffs for PV systems. Self-consumption should no longer be so much in the foreground. Today, owners of a PV system receive only 6.43 cents for every kilowatt hour fed into the grid. That is much less than they have to pay for a kilowatt hour themselves at their electricity provider. But if you pay more, the electricity price also rises for everyone.
Electricity demand also increases due to heat pumps and electric cars
However, the study leaves completely open why electricity consumption is increasing among the households concerned. This could also be due to the fact that these households have purchased an electric car or a heat pump. It is obvious that the households use the free electricity from their own PV system for this purpose. The call for these households to use less of their own electricity and feed more into the grid for the general public shows how critical the German electricity supply already is with the path taken in the energy transition.
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