During the energy crisis in Europe, a series of new products were launched that promised to keep people’s electricity bills down.
One of them has grown strongly in Germany – so-called balcony power plants.
– It feels as if I am doing something good. I use less electricity and I do something more sustainable, says Luu Nguyen from her balcony in East Berlin.
The balcony power plants are small, thin and light solar panels that you plug directly into the home’s electrical outlet. Luu Nguyen’s system can produce up to 2 kilowatt hours on a sunny day in mid-summer. On an annual basis, it can be enough to cover around a quarter of a family’s electricity.
But of course it depends on how big the balcony is, how many panels can be installed – and on the weather.
Not allowed in Sweden
Luu is one of 300,000 people in Germany who decided to install a balcony power plant last year and now there are around a million solar panels installed on balconies around the country.
Because they are small and have a relatively low maximum output, it does not make a significant difference in Germany’s entire energy mix, where around 12 percent of electricity production comes from solar energy. But it is a strongly growing sector, especially in recent years with the deep energy crisis.
In Sweden, most balcony power plants are not permitted. This is mainly due to the fact that they may not be plugged directly into the home’s electrical outlet.
Solar instead of Russian gas
One who early saw the potential of sunny balconies was Karolina Attspodina, who in 2021 founded her company that designs, produces and sells balcony power plants.
When the war in Ukraine led to an energy crisis in Germany, people suddenly became very interested in lowering their electricity bills.
Karolina herself is from Ukraine, and her family still lives in the capital, Kyiv. So for her it was not only a smart business idea, but also an opportunity to play a small role in getting Germany to buy less Russian gas.
– I personally think that we should all avoid giving money to the attacker, she says.