Costs of solar system for hot water

If you want to bathe or shower pleasantly warm with the help of the sun, you not only need solar collectors on the roof, but also a correspondingly large heat storage tank. The cost of a solar system for the preparation of hot water depends on the number of people in the household, their water consumption and the desired coverage of hot water consumption by the solar thermal system.

Solar system costs: These factors influence the price

• Size of the solar system:
  1 to 1.5 square metres of collector area should be estimated per person in the household. The solar thermal heat storage system is expected to have a storage volume of 50 to 80 litres per person. For new buildings, at least 0.04 square metres of collector area per square metre of living space generally apply. Our article Solar thermal energy – tips on system size answers all your questions about the dimensioning of your solar thermal system.
• Type of solar system:Another factor in the cost of a solar system for hot water is the type of solar collectors used. Flat plate collectors are cheaper than vacuum tube collectors. However, the flat plate collector is better suited for pure hot water operation.

Costs of solar system: Guideline values for a solar thermal system for hot water preparation

The price for a solar thermal system for the preparation of hot water for a 4-person household is about 4,000 to 5,000 euros for flat plate collectors, the costs for vacuum tube collectors are about 30 percent higher.

A solar system becomes more cost-effective if it is planned for the new building. Here, the pipes do not have to be laid afterwards and in a cumbersome way.

For hot water, the usual consumption coverage by a solar system is between 50 and 60 percent. In the summer months, one hundred percent coverage is often achieved by the solar system, so that the boiler can be switched off. During this time, no expensive heating oil or natural gas is consumed. This significantly reduces the cost of heating energy. In winter, the solar system is usually only used to preheat the cold water.

Reduce the costs of the solar system with attractive subsidy programs

Good news for all those who want to install a solar thermal system now: Because with the climate package, the federal government has also decided on a lucrative increase in solar thermal subsidies.

Whereas in the past there was only a small fixed-amount subsidy, builders and homeowners now receive subsidies of 30 percent for solar thermal systems for hot water preparation or combined heating support. If renovators replace an old oil heating system with a new gas condensing solar hybrid heating system, subsidies of up to 40 percent are even possible. Open financing gaps can then be closed with a low-cost supplementary loan from the KfW programme 167.

We provide an overview of current possibilities in the article on solar thermal subsidies.