Plugin solar kit on your pergola

In short: Up to 50%.

A pergola plugin solar kit produces solar energy for self consumption at home. The energy it produces is used directly by your household appliances. This avoids your household having to buy that energy from your power company, lowering your power bills.

Your savings are therefore determined by: how much energy your plugin solar kit produces and how much you pay your power company per kWh, with all extra costs and taxes included.

For example, in Spain, a Performance 800 bifacial plugin solar kit with two south-facing solar panels, a 20° angle and good back irradiation produces up to 1,951 kWh per year. At the average electricity price of €0,23/kWh, you save €458 per year (1.951 kWh x €0,23/kWh = €458). You can calculate how much you can save at your home with our savings calculator.

How much the savings are on your overall electricity bill depends on how much you consume in total. A house consumes much more than an apartment, so the effect of a solar kit is likely higher for an apartment. The more people you are in the family, the higher your total consumption. Since plugin solar kits are limited to 800 W by law, for households of one to three people the savings of a plugin solar kit will be higher as a percentage of total electricity consumption than for larger households that consume more. Also, if you have a lot of high-consumption devices on for a lot of time, like air conditioners, water boilers, ovens etc, your consumption is likely much higher than the 800 W of peak output your kit can deliver.

But take into consideration that some savings are better than none at all. And the higher your energy consumption is, the more likely it is that you will consume 100% of your kit’s output, maximizing your economic return.

In short: Much easier than you might think.

A pergola plugin solar kit generates energy from the sun with its solar panels. The micro inverter converts the panels’ DC power into AC power used in your household. A special cable connects the micro inverter to a normal Schuko plug, feeding your kit’s power into your power circuit.

That circuit is like a system of canals. At different points there are devices that consume energy. The sum of that energy consumption is what at the end of the canal is fed from your power company into your household. Your power meter counts how much that power is at any time.

If you now connect a pergola plugin solar kit to your canal, that kit feeds power into that network at a slightly higher voltage. The connected devices use that power first. If you have several power circuits at home, these all meet at the distribution panel, that is in turn connected to your power meter and the grid. If there is excess power in the circuit your kit is connected to, it will spill over first to your other circuits that are demanding energy.

A Performance solar kit with bifacial panels produces up to 1.951 kWh/year in southern Europe. Production depends on several factors, like the types of panels (mono-glass or bifacial), location of installation, orientation and azimuth as well as the type of mount you choose. Our savings calculator helps you find the exact answer for your installation. We use the European Commission’s PV GIS database to calculate the estimated yearly electricity production of your kit. The result is usually a conservative estimate.

When considering the installation of a plugin solar kit, look for the place in your home with the most unimpeded sunshine hours. This can be your terrace, balcony, pergola, roof or a wall. At Robinsun we offer kits for a wide range of installation locations, to help you install your kit where it produces most for you.