Solar balconies are booming in Germany. Here’s what you need to know about the popular home tech
This new wave of solar producers aren’t just getting cheap electricity, they’re also participating in the energy transition.
More than 400,000 plug-in solar systems have been installed in Germany, most of them taking up a seamless spot on people’s balconies.
New data shows at least 50,000 of the PV devices were added in the first quarter of 2024 alone. A boom born from Germany’s “very strong solar culture”, in the words of one expert.
Solar balconies are a piece of the wider energy transition across Europe, explains Jan Osenberg, a policy advisor at the SolarPower Europe association.
“We see them as a subset of rooftop solar, but also as something different,” he tells Euronews Green. “We basically see it as a trend to use all possible artificial infrastructure for solar generation.”
Train tracks, motorways, carparks, car roofs, cemeteries and building facades… the list of structures getting a solar makeover goes on and on.
So why are other European countries slow on the balustrade uptake? And what do you need to know if you’re eyeing up a panel or two for your balcony?