Solar Self-Consumption vs Export Calculator

How to use this calculator

1. Pick your country to preload a typical import price and export value. The Netherlands defaults to the 2026 net-metering situation; to model 2027, enter the lower feed-in payment and any terugleverkosten from your tariff.
2. Enter your annual production (roughly 900–1,300 kWh per kWp in northern Europe, 1,400–1,800 in the south) and your household consumption.
3. Set your self-consumption rate — the share of what you generate that you use on the spot rather than exporting.
4. Enter the export price, and any export fee your supplier subtracts per exported kWh.
5. Click Value my solar.

Self-consumption and self-sufficiency are not the same thing

These two numbers get confused constantly, including by installers, and they answer completely different questions.

A big array on a small house can have a low self-consumption rate (most of the output is exported) and a high self-sufficiency rate (it still covers most of what you use). A small array on a hungry house is the opposite. Only self-consumption predicts the money, because only self-consumption avoids the retail price.

Why export value keeps changing

Feed-in schemes were designed when solar was rare. Now that midday solar is abundant, its market value at midday is low, and support schemes across the world are being cut back or redesigned:

• Netherlands: net metering (salderingsregeling) still applies through 31 December 2026, so exported electricity can be offset against imported electricity. From 1 January 2027 that ends: exports receive a feed-in payment instead, and suppliers may also charge terugleverkosten. Use the fields above to model either year.
• Australia: feed-in tariffs have fallen to around 4 c while retail is around 33 c. Some networks now charge for daytime export.
• Germany: the feed-in tariff for new small systems keeps stepping down, and no payment is made during negative-price hours.
• Spain: surplus is compensated monthly and can never exceed the energy term of that month's bill — anything beyond it is simply lost.
• Sweden: the 60 öre/kWh tax credit for exported electricity was abolished on 1 January 2026, which quietly made every older Swedish payback calculation wrong.

The strategic consequence is the same in most markets: the value of solar is moving from exporting to self-consuming. Shifting loads into daylight hours, or storing the surplus, is now where much of the money is.

What the result tells you

• Net export value per kWh — the feed-in price minus the export fee. If this is near zero, exporting is charity.
• Value of self-consumed energy versus value of exported energy.
• Value lost by exporting — what those exported kilowatt-hours would have been worth if you had used them instead. This number is what justifies a battery, a timer, or simply running the washing machine at noon.
• Self-consumption and self-sufficiency rates, side by side.

A useful rule: if an exported kWh is worth less than a quarter of an imported one, every kWh you can move into daylight hours earns you more than four times what exporting it would.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good self-consumption rate?

Without a battery, 25–40% is typical for a household that is out during the day. Timers on the dishwasher and washing machine push it towards 45%. A battery, an EV charged at home during the day, or a heat pump can take it to 60–80%.

Should I install a battery?

Compare the 'value lost by exporting' figure with the annual cost of a battery (its price divided by its expected life). A battery only earns the difference between the import price and the net export price, minus round-trip losses — so the wider that gap, the better a battery looks.

What are terugleverkosten?

A fee some Dutch suppliers charge for exported electricity. In 2026 net metering still applies, but from 2027 the combination of feed-in payment and terugleverkosten decides the net value of an exported kWh. Enter the fee in the export fee field.

How much electricity will my panels produce?

As a rule of thumb: 900–1,100 kWh per installed kWp in Scandinavia and the UK, 1,000–1,300 in central Europe, 1,400–1,800 in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Thailand — assuming an unshaded roof with a reasonable orientation.

Is it still worth installing solar if the export price is low?

Usually yes — but the case now rests on self-consumption, not export. Size the array to what you can actually use, rather than to the largest system that fits on the roof, and the payback improves.

Why is self-sufficiency lower than I expected?

Because solar produces when you are least likely to be home. That mismatch is the entire problem solar batteries and load shifting exist to solve.