What is self-consumption, and why does it matter?

Self-consumption is the share of the electricity your solar panels produce that you use in your own home, rather than exporting to the grid. It is the single number that most influences the value of a residential solar system.

Why self-consumption beats export

In most European markets, the price you receive for exporting solar is far lower than the price you pay to buy electricity from the grid. Every kilowatt-hour you consume yourself avoids a purchase at the retail rate; every kilowatt-hour you export earns only the feed-in rate. The gap between the two is where the real saving is.

How storage raises it

A household's demand rarely lines up with the sunniest hours. Without a battery, morning and evening demand is met from the grid even when the panels produced a surplus at midday. Storage shifts that surplus to when it is actually needed, sharply increasing self-consumption.

The takeaway

A well-designed system is not necessarily the one with the most panels. It is the one that matches generation to the home's use, with enough storage to carry surplus into the evening.