What is a solar-electric house?

In our new video, the Smart family shows the advantages that sector coupling offers. All 4 sectors (electricity for household appliances, hot water, heating and mobility) are connected to each other and supplied with electricity. With the provision of electricity by a photovoltaic system, the whole thing is getting very efficient, for the environment and for your wallet. The concept of the solar-electric house only makes sense with a photovoltaic system on the roof and a high level of self-consumption of the generated solar power.

In this way, the general consumption in the household can be supported with photovoltaic electricity, and if there is sufficient surplus, hot water can be prepared during the day and the electric heating can be operated. If there is even more surplus PV power available – especially during the warmer and sunnier months – electromobility can also be made possible efficiently and cost-effectively.

Annual review is decisive

What is important here is that it only makes sense to have a look at the entire duration of the year. While more energy is consumed in winter than is produced by the PV system on the roof, spring and summer compensate for this with very high yields and low heat requirements. For example, an annual analysis of a well-dimensioned PV system shows that more electricity is produced than was consumed in the 4 sectors.

Our solar-electric company building and a multi-party residential building in Styria, where we recently published the annual data, have already shown that this concept successfully works.

The video with the explanation and presentation of the Smart family’s solar-electric house (please feel free to put your name in 😉) can be found here: