Solar power has grown up. As the technology becomes increasingly efficient, the market has begun to offer a whole range of solutions that integrate solar panels with storage systems and electric vehicle charging systems. Companies have started working together to offer consumers "turnkey" solutions for making the definitive switch to renewables, powering private homes and perhaps charging their own electric vehicle, whether two- or four-wheeled. Admittedly, final approval is still lacking to turn consumers into prosumers (producer-consumers), but the path taken with the transposition of European directive 2018-2001 appears to have set the course.

Despite the fact that 2018 saw a slowdown, or at any rate a very modest increase, in new installations in Italy, solar power continued to grow — albeit tentatively — reaching 20.1 GW of installed capacity. This growth was certainly driven in part by the sharp reduction in payback periods for an installation. According to a recent study that analysed the European market, payback periods are well below ten years.

Solar power and charging: a perfect combination

In 2019 it is still possible to benefit from the ecobonus, which allows households to deduct 50 per cent of the costs incurred for the energy renovation of a building, including solar panels with storage. Also covered by the deduction are certain installations of home automation systems, which make it possible to better manage electricity production and demand.

Against this backdrop, the market could only adapt. Examples such as Fotovoltaico Semplice, an Italian company that not only sells panels but manufactures them in-house for export abroad as well, offers its customers the integration of residential batteries for energy storage, through an agreement with Varta Storage, enabling the use of surplus energy during night-time hours. What's more, the company has signed a partnership with Vp Solar and Sifà so that customers have the opportunity to charge all models of electric car on the market, as well as hire the vehicles offered by Sifà. On top of that, the company also promotes the sale of electric scooters manufactured by Niu, which guarantee a full charge in just six hours and a range of approximately 80 kilometres.

Renewables: it's time for prosumers

Then there are the major automotive brands offering similar solutions. First and foremost Tesla, which with the launch of Powerwall already saw the solar-plus-electric-vehicle-charging combination as the winning proposition. The race then widened to include Bmw and Nissan, both with "all in one" solutions. Or take Sonnen, which since the beginning of the year has begun providing balancing services for the German national electricity grid by controlling residential storage systems installed throughout Germany. A kind of "virtual battery", made up of all these interconnected systems, is online and is currently the largest in the world capable of compensating for fluctuations in the electricity grid. German prosumers already cover the demand of a few large fossil-fuel power stations — a sign that the time is ripe to transition to a decarbonised energy system.