junges Paar mit Balkonkraftwerk

Balcony PV system subsidy

If you want to live in a more cli­mate-friend­ly way, you can now do so with­out much effort — for exam­ple with a bal­cony PV sys­tem. This allows you to gen­er­ate solar pow­er your­self and even save on elec­tric­i­ty costs. But if you want to help dri­ve for­ward the ener­gy tran­si­tion in this way, you will first have to face the costs. Solar pan­els, invert­ers, mounts — all these com­po­nents have to be pur­chased for your own. Luck­i­ly, there are already sub­sidy pro­grammes in many fed­er­al states that make the pur­chase of a bal­cony PV sys­tem even more afford­able. You can find out which sub­sidy pro­grammes are avail­able for bal­cony PV sys­tems in your fed­er­al state and to what extent state sub­si­dies for bal­cony PV sys­tems are avail­able here.

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What subsidies are available for balcony PV systems?

The stan­dard­ised nation­wide pro­mo­tion for bal­cony PV sys­tems cur­rent­ly con­sists of the fact that pho­to­volta­ic sys­tems have had a VAT rate of 0% since the begin­ning of 2023. This means that they can be pur­chased VAT-free. In addi­tion, each fed­er­al state, but also each city or munic­i­pal­i­ty, can decide for itself whether and to what extent a sub­sidy for bal­cony solar sys­tems is grant­ed. The good news is that many fed­er­al states, as well as indi­vid­ual cities and munic­i­pal­i­ties, are sup­port­ing their res­i­dents on the path to a cli­mate-friend­ly future and offer­ing a sub­sidy for bal­cony PV sys­tems! And of course, we have com­piled a list of all the cur­rent amounts for you so that you can quick­ly and eas­i­ly find out about the fund­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties in your area.

List of federal states: State subsidies for balcony PV systems are available here

Sta­tus: July 2023

  • Baden-Württemberg

    The state of Baden-Würt­tem­berg does not yet offer any stan­dard­ised sub­si­dies for bal­cony PV sys­tems. How­ev­er, there are many fund­ing pro­grammes at local author­i­ty lev­el that sub­sidise bal­cony solar sys­tems with up to 300 euros per house­hold. You can find more detailed infor­ma­tion on the web­site of your local author­i­ty / city. The city of Hei­del­berg’s ‘Pho­to­volta­ic sys­tems sub­sidy pro­gramme’ sub­sidis­es bal­cony PV sys­tems to the tune of 50% of the eli­gi­ble costs up to €1,500 or 100% minus a per­son­al con­tri­bu­tion of €50 if you have a Hei­del­berg Pass. Hei­del­berg thus offers the high­est sub­sidy for bal­cony PV sys­tems in Germany.

  • Bavaria

    There is cur­rent­ly no state-wide bal­cony PV sys­tems sub­sidy in Bavaria. How­ev­er, some cities and munic­i­pal­i­ties already have their own sub­si­dies for bal­cony PV sys­tems. The city of Forch­heim offers the high­est pos­si­ble sub­sidy with a max­i­mum of €400 per build­ing / res­i­den­tial unit. The best way to find out about fund­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties is to go direct­ly to the web­site of your town or district.

  • Berlin

    In Berlin, there is a sub­sidy of 500 euros for the instal­la­tion of your own bal­cony PV sys­tems. If the pur­chase costs are less than this amount, only these costs are cov­ered. The appli­ca­tion must be sub­mit­ted before the pur­chase. Ten­ants who wish to ben­e­fit from the sub­sidy can find more infor­ma­tion on how to apply on the Investi­tions­bank Berlin website.

  • Brandenburg

    Unfor­tu­nate­ly, there is cur­rent­ly no fund­ing for bal­cony PV sys­tems in Brandenburg.

  • Bremen

    Unfor­tu­nate­ly, there are cur­rent­ly no sub­si­dies for bal­cony PV sys­tems in Bremen.

  • Hamburg

    In Ham­burg, there is cur­rent­ly no fund­ing for bal­cony PV sys­tems.

  • Hessen

    Hesse does not yet offer fund­ing for bal­cony PV sys­tems across the board. How­ev­er, some cities and munic­i­pal­i­ties already have their own sub­si­dies for bal­cony PV sys­tems. It is best to check the web­site of your city or dis­trict to find out whether and which sub­si­dies can be applied for.

  • Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

    Meck­len­burg- Vor­pom­mern is also start­ing to sub­sidise solar bal­cony sys­tems and is pay­ing a one-off sum of up to 500 euros. In the­o­ry, both ten­ants and own­ers can apply for the sub­sidy after pur­chase and instal­la­tion. How­ev­er, the funds are cur­rent­ly exhaust­ed to the extent that only ten­ants still have a chance of receiv­ing fund­ing. Fur­ther infor­ma­tion can be found on the web­site of the MV State Fund­ing Insti­tute.

  • Lower Saxony

    In Low­er Sax­ony, there is no gen­er­al sub­sidy for the instal­la­tion of a bal­cony solar pow­er sys­tem. How­ev­er, some cities and munic­i­pal­i­ties already have their own sub­si­dies for bal­cony PV sys­tems, so it is def­i­nite­ly worth keep­ing up to date!

  • North Rhine-Westphalia

    There is cur­rent­ly no state-wide solar sub­sidy pro­gramme in North Rhine-West­phalia. How­ev­er, as in many oth­er fed­er­al states, many cities and local author­i­ties in NRW have launched their own sub­sidy pro­grammes for bal­cony solar sys­tems. The amount of the sub­sidy and the con­di­tions that apply can be found on the web­sites of the respec­tive cities and dis­tricts. If you live in Düs­sel­dorf, you can ben­e­fit from one of the high­est sub­si­dies: Here, bal­cony PV sys­tems are sub­sidised by 50% under cer­tain con­di­tions, with the max­i­mum sub­sidy amount being 800 euros.

  • Rhineland-Palatinate

    Rhineland-Palati­nate does not cur­rent­ly offer a state-wide bal­cony PV sys­tems sub­sidy pro­gramme. Some local­i­ties have their own sub­sidy pro­grammes, where a sub­sidy is linked to cer­tain con­di­tions. It is there­fore rec­om­mend­ed that you inform your­self about these pro­grammes in advance.

  • Saarland

    Unfor­tu­nate­ly, there are cur­rent­ly no sub­si­dies for bal­cony PV sys­tems in Saarland.

  • Saxony

    In Sax­ony, all sub­si­dies have cur­rent­ly been used up. It is cur­rent­ly not known when fund­ing for bal­cony PV sys­tems can be applied for again.

  • Saxony-Anhalt

    Unfor­tu­nate­ly, there is cur­rent­ly no fund­ing for bal­cony PV sys­tems in Saxony-Anhalt.

  • Schleswig-Holstein

    The ‘Cli­mate pro­tec­tion for cit­i­zens’ fund­ing pro­gramme has been sus­pend­ed by the fed­er­al state of Schleswig-Hol­stein until fur­ther notice. It is not yet known when fund­ing for pho­to­volta­ic and bal­cony solar sys­tems is planned again. How­ev­er, some cities and dis­tricts have pro­grammes to pro­mote bal­cony pho­to­voltaics. Check the web­site of your city or region reg­u­lar­ly to stay up to date.

  • Thüringen

    In Thürin­gen, there are cur­rent­ly no state-wide sub­si­dies for bal­cony PV sys­tems. How­ev­er, some cities and munic­i­pal­i­ties already offer their own sub­si­dies for bal­cony PV sys­tems. It is best to reg­u­lar­ly check the web­site of your city or dis­trict to find out whether and which sub­si­dies can be applied for.

Subsidies in Austria and Switzerland

Aus­tria has once again launched a com­pre­hen­sive pro­gramme for the pro­mo­tion of bal­cony pho­to­voltaics in 2023. On the country’s cross-gov­ern­men­tal online plat­form, you can view all the infor­ma­tion on apply­ing for fund­ing for bal­cony solar sys­tems, the solar bonus and oth­er gov­ern­ment grants for sus­tain­able con­struc­tion and ren­o­va­tion projects and find the right fund­ing for your project.

Switzerland: So far only subsidies for large solar systems

In Switzer­land, unfor­tu­nate­ly, you can­not yet receive a sub­sidy for the pur­chase and instal­la­tion of bal­cony PV sys­tems. Sub­si­dies are only avail­able for sys­tems with an out­put of at least 100 kW.

Berlin Reichstag

Further financial benefits: how the state subsidises the energy transition

Even though there is no nation­wide bal­cony PV sys­tem sub­sidy in Ger­many to date, the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment has tak­en a step to make the pur­chase of your own bal­cony PV sys­tem more attrac­tive and acces­si­ble to the gen­er­al pub­lic: On 1 Jan­u­ary 2023, VAT for bal­cony solar pow­er sys­tems was abol­ished in Ger­many. Pre­vi­ous­ly, the 19% VAT on goods affect­ed the prices of solar sys­tems for bal­conies, roofs and gar­dens and all acces­sories. Since the abo­li­tion, prices for plug-and-play solu­tions have fall­en significantly.

Where can I apply for the subsidies?

In many cas­es, appli­ca­tions can be sub­mit­ted via an online plat­form. You can find out which forms you need to sub­mit for your bal­cony PV sys­tems sub­sidy on the web­site of your fed­er­al state, city or munic­i­pal­i­ty. Impor­tant: You can only apply for a sub­sidy as long as fund­ing is avail­able. Once the fund­ing released by the state has been allo­cat­ed, you are no longer enti­tled to fund­ing. In many cas­es, how­ev­er, sub­si­dies are increased when demand is high. It is there­fore always worth keep­ing up to date.

Is it worth applying for a subsidy for my balcony solar system?

Absolute­ly. With an aver­age ser­vice life of up to 25 years, a bal­cony PV sys­tem is a very effec­tive way of sav­ing elec­tric­i­ty costs in the long term, even with­out a sub­sidy. How­ev­er, with a sub­sidy of sev­er­al hun­dred euros in some cas­es, the pur­chase costs are amor­tised much more quick­ly. Depend­ing on which fed­er­al state you live in, you should there­fore find out about pos­si­ble sub­si­dies before buy­ing a plug-and-play bal­cony solar pow­er system.

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