Everything you need to know about self-consumption with solar panels
Grid operators and energy suppliers prefer consumers with solar panels to increase their self-consumption as much as possible. How does that work and what are the options for residential installations?One topic that is often mentioned when discussing solar installations is self-consumption. Self-consumption means that the power generated by the solar panels is immediately consumed in the home or business. This electricity does not flow past the meter to the grid and is therefore not registered as ‘feed-in'. Instead, the energy remains 'behind the meter', i.e. within the home. By increasing self-consumption, less electricity needs to be drawn from the grid, resulting in lower consumption on the annual bill.
Many energy suppliers try to encourage customers with solar panels in various ways to increase their self-consumption. According to the price comparison platform 'overstappen.nl', more and more electricity suppliers have followed the example of supplier 'Vandebron', who introduced a surcharge for customers who feed too much power back into the grid. In many cases, increasing the share of self-consumption can lead to lower electricity costs for you.
How can we increase self-consumption?
The simplest and cheapest method to increase self-consumption is to only switch on large power consumers when the sun is shining. Instead of turning on the dishwasher or charging the car in the evening, try to perform these activities during the day as much as possible. If you are not at home at that time, you can set the dishwasher on a timer so that it starts around noon when the sun (hopefully) provides a lot of energy.
Charging an electric car (or bicycle!) during sunny moments can also make a nice contribution to higher self-consumption. Unfortunately, many charging stations are quite basic: it is often not possible to make them work in a time-controlled manner, and they often only have two settings: on (at full power) or off. A smart charging station that can be controlled based on the available solar power is therefore one way to significantly increase self-consumption. The pressure on the grid also decreases when an EV charger charges mainly with its own electricity. Proof that this is an urgent problem was made clear by some grid operators arguing that public charging stations should be switched off completely at certain times of the day!
Heat pumps and batteries
At Zonnefabriek we are also talk more and more about batteries and heat pumps with storage tanks. Both are products in which excess energy can be temporarily stored for later use. For people with an SMA inverter for their solar panels, the Sunny Home Manager controls these systems. The Home manager can also simultaneously control other devices via smart sockets and relays.
For heat pumps, the hot water they produce is later used in the form of sanitary hot water or heating. The energy stored in batteries, on the other hand, is made available again in the same form in which it arrived: as electric current. For both methods, there is always a loss during the conversion and they involve relatively significant investments. However, the share of self-consumption can be easily and significantly increased by adding these products to your home.
East/West versus South
The positioning of the solar panels can also help to increase self-consumption, although unfortunately you usually don’t have much choice in this regard. If the solar panels are all south-facing, they give the highest yield over the course of a year, but on the other hand the energy comes in in a big lump, with one high peak around 12 noon. If, on the other hand, the panels are placed in an East/West configuration (with one part east-facing and another part facing the west), the yield would be more evenly spread throughout the day. That makes it easier to consume the electricity yourself.
Batteries, heat pumps, charging stations, dishwashers and washing machines... every little bit helps to increase self-consumption and thus relieve the pressure on the grid and (often) reduce your electricity bill. Zonnefabriek has a lot of knowledge and experience in this area: please feel free to contact our service department if you would like to have more information.