Save 450€ in feed-in fees with AC ELWA 2 in the Netherlands

Since August 2024, energy providers in the Netherlands have been charging fees for feeding surplus PV energy into the grid. This has motivated PV system owners to find efficient ways to maximize their self-consumption.

This was the challenge faced by the owner of a 50-year-old detached house in the Dutch town of Lekkerkerk. Equipped with a 15 kWp PV system, the homeowner generated a substantial energy surplus, which has been subject to high feed-in fees since the new regulations took effect. With only two people living in the household, far more electricity than needed was generated. On sunny days, a significant portion of the energy went unused and was fed into the grid.

To address this, the homeowner decided to efficiently increase their PV self-consumption through photovoltaic heat. The requirement: a device with linear control to optimally use the available solar electricity for water heating and space heating. The choice was the AC ELWA 2, which stood out due to its linear control and tracking via the my-PV Cloud.

The results are remarkable: On two comparable days – with nearly identical PV generation of 23 kWh – self-consumption increased from 54% to 85%, while grid feed-in dropped from 10.5 kWh to 3.6 kWh. As a result, the homeowner could save over €450 annually in feed-in fees alone.

Curious about how the solar-electric system was integrated into the heating and sanitary setup of the 50-year-old house? All the technical details can be found here.