I replaced it all with 9kW worth of panels (about $3k, shipped) on 4 simple 60° ground mounts, normal wiring and appliances. Angle is optimized for early spring / late fall - there's effectively no sun in winter, and the rest of the year I have excess power even with fixed, sub-optimal angles.
The diminished cost of panels alone over the past 20 years has transformed "off-grid" from a pastime for wealthy hippies into a reasonable solution for remote living.
My 6.7kW system produces 2.5 what we need in the summer, and 0.5 of what we need in the winter (even though its output here in New Mexico is relatively constant). Adding a couple extra is going to accomplish nothing in the face of a winter heating system (even with high efficiency heat pumps).
I didn’t make a profit, it’s not commercial — but apparently getting to almost break even on my energy bills is a “profit”.
- If you have any income from commercial operation (selling stuff) you are required to declare that, when doing your taxes.
- When selling electricity you're not so much classified as an energy company, but fall under similar taxation rules as a company. This also means you can get the VAT back, you paid when buying panels, inverters etc.
- Since 2023 solar installations smaller than 30 kWp are completely exempt from this taxation scheme. This means you're not paying any VAT, when buying equipment for your solar installations and don't have to declare the revenue.
- You can get around the 30 kWp limit under some circumstances by having multiple separate installations.
- Parent post is talking about an off-grid installation, which would be exempt anyway, because there is no revenue from selling electricity.
The tax exemption from 2023 was a very welcome move by SPD and the Green party to reduce bureaucracy regarding solar installations and I think the 30 kWp is pretty reasonable
Would be interesting to see, how other countries are handling this.