Solar Honest
Solar and battery payback you can actually trust — calculated hour-by-hour with real PVGIS data, country-specific prices, and no installer assumptions.
39 countries · PVGIS solar data · Updated May 2026 · CC-BY-SA · 🔒 No tracking
Explore Country Guides Try the CalculatorWhy Most Solar Calculators Overstate Your Savings
Here's the insight that changes everything: a solar panel only saves you money when you use its electricity at the moment it's produced. Every kilowatt-hour you can't consume immediately gets exported to the grid — which pays you a fraction of the retail price.
This means bigger isn't better. The best system is the right-sized one where almost everything you generate gets used in your home. Anything beyond that is capacity you paid for but can't use.
Most calculators ignore this. They blend solar and battery payback, assume you'll use 70–80% of what you generate, and skip costs like inverter replacement and maintenance. We don't.
Winter reality check: A 5 kWp system produces ~2.9 kWh on an average December day. A heat pump needs ~15 kWh. Solar alone won't run your heating in winter. See the full breakdown →
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39 European countries with real electricity prices, feed-in tariffs, and equipment costs.
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System size, battery, heating type, occupancy — the things that actually affect payback.
Get honest numbers
Separate solar and battery payback, with inverter replacement, maintenance, and flat-price scenarios.
Quick Country Verdicts
Solar and battery economics vary wildly across Europe. Here's the honest take.
What This Site Does Differently
No installer ties. No manufacturer deals. Just data.
❌ Typical Solar Calculators
- Funded by installer ads & affiliate links
- Blend solar and battery payback into one number
- Ignore inverter replacement at year 12
- Assume 5–10% annual electricity price growth
- Claim batteries are "essential" regardless of economics
- Send your data to servers — or sell it to installers
✅ This Site
- No commercial ties — no kickbacks, no affiliate links
- Separate solar and battery payback calculations
- Include inverter replacement at year 12
- Default to flat prices; show growth as a scenario
- Show exactly when batteries don't make financial sense
- Everything runs in your browser — we never see your data
Start Here
Everything you need to make an informed decision.
🌍 Country Guides
Solar and battery economics for 39 European countries. Prices, subsidies, red flags, and honest payback estimates — data you can actually use.
Browse countries →🧮 Solar & Battery Calculator
Calculate your real payback with country-specific prices, hourly solar simulation, and honest assumptions. Separate solar and battery results.
Calculate now →♻️ Lifecycle Calculator
The true cost of solar includes end-of-life waste. See what your system's decommissioning, recycling, and disposal will actually cost. New
See the full cost →🔋 8 Battery Myths
When batteries make sense, when they don't, and the most common misleading claims installers make about home storage.
Read the myths →📊 Methodology
Every assumption exposed. PVGIS data sources, heat pump modeling, battery economics, and our known limitations — all in one place.
How we calculate →📖 All Guides
Self-consumption reality, payback truth, insulation vs solar, weekend homes, EV charging, and more — 14 honest guides.
Browse guides →