Energy SimulatorYour roof, your prices, your year.
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Is a home battery worth it in France?

France has relatively cheap electricity and a regulated purchase tariff (obligation d'achat) for exported solar power of around 13 cents. That narrow gap makes batteries pay back slowly for most homes. See the numbers with your own tariff.

35,040 steps per year Your own tariff Battery size advice Runs in your browser
A summer day from your own scenario, replayed in 24 seconds.06:00
France

Typical values for France

Starting values only. Your bill is the source of truth: enter your own import and export price in the simulator above.

Typical import price€ 0.22 – 0.27 per kWh all-in
ExportObligation d'achat, roughly € 0.10 – 0.13 per kWh for surplus
Solar yieldabout 1,000 – 1,400 kWh per kWp per year, north to south
Battery pricesabout € 600 – 900 per usable kWh installed
Questions

Good to know

Autoconsommation avec vente du surplus or sans?

The simulator models self-consumption with export of the surplus. Enter the surplus purchase price as your export price.

Does the prime à l'autoconsommation count?

Yes, subtract it from your solar cost per kWp in the advanced fields.

Heures creuses?

Off-peak tariffs are not modelled yet. They can make a battery more useful; treat the result as conservative.

Other countries: NetherlandsGermanyBelgiumUnited KingdomIrelandSpainItalyAustriaSwitzerlandAustraliaUnited StatesSouth Africa all countries

Start here

Three questions, then your year

Each answer changes the picture right away. You can refine everything later in the full simulator.

How much electricity do you use per year?

Or use your real meter data

Upload the export from your smart meter or energy app (CSV). It stays in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.

Where do I get this file?
  • Netherlands: a P1 reader app (HomeWizard, Enelogic, Slimme Meter Portal) exports 15-minute or hourly CSV. Your grid operator's site only gives daily totals; that is not enough.
  • Belgium: Fluvius "Mijn verbruik" → download kwartierwaarden (CSV).
  • Germany: your Messstellenbetreiber portal or a smart-meter gateway app; Tibber, Octopus and Rabot show downloads in the app.
  • UK: Octopus (Account → Download data, 30-minute), or any supplier with a smart meter; also n3rgy.
  • Australia: your retailer or distributor portal (30-minute interval data; NEM12 files are not supported yet).
  • Anywhere: two columns are enough: date-time and kWh per interval. Readings in watts or cumulative meter readings also work.

No file yet? Try the sample file to see how it works.

What is on your roof, or what could be?

What do you pay, and what do you get for export?

€
€
you pay (all-in)you get for export

Your day

Scroll through a day at your home

The scene follows your scrolling. Every number comes from your own inputs.

Scroll to move through the day06:00

Early morning

Mid-morning

Early afternoon

Evening

Night

Your year

Twelve months, where your power comes from

directly from your rooffrom your batteryfrom the gridexported
The simulator

The full simulator

Every setting, including yield and investment costs. Change anything; results, your day and your year update instantly.

Inputs

Sets currency, solar yield and typical prices. Everything stays editable.
From your yearly bill. Households 2,000–6,000 kWh; a small business often 10,000+.
10 panels ≈ 4 kWp. Already have panels? Enter what is on the roof.
Usable size. Power is assumed at half the capacity per hour (5 kWh → 2.5 kW).
€
€
you pay (all-in)you get for export
One price around the clock. The battery stores your own solar power for the evening.
Net metering: exported kWh are subtracted from imported kWh over the year at the price you pay. Then a battery adds little. Many countries are phasing this out.
Advanced: yield and investment costs
Netherlands/Germany ≈ 950–1,050; Spain, Australia, southern US ≈ 1,400–1,700.
Installed, including inverter and labour. Used only for payback.
Today, grid only
€ 1,050
electricity per year
With solar
€ 455
saves € 595 per year
Solar + battery
€ 181
battery adds € 274 per year
Self-sufficient
68%
of your use from your own roof
Solar used at home
63%
rest is exported
Payback solar
7.6 yr
€ 4,400 invested
Payback battery
11.6 yr
€ 3,000 invested
Imported from the grid
3,500 kWh
Imported with solar
2,350 kWh
Imported with solar + battery
1,120 kWh

Email me my report

Your numbers, a link to this scenario and the PDF, sent by Kiki from WVE.

We only keep your details if you ask for advice or quotes.

solar consumption battery charge from the grid

Which battery size pays off?

Same roof and prices, only the battery changes. Bigger is not always better: once the battery covers your evenings, extra kWh sit idle.

BatteryBattery saving / yrSelf-sufficientCycles / yrPayback

Compare two set-ups

Your set-up against an alternative. Move the alternative to answer the real question: which one.

Per yearYoursAlternative
How it works

A whole year, every quarter of an hour

Every 15 minutes the simulator decides where each kilowatt-hour goes. Solar covers your use first, the surplus charges the battery, the battery covers your evening, the rest goes to or comes from the grid.

Sun Solar roofkWp × yield Your homeconsumption profile Battery0.5C · 90% round trip Gridyour two prices sunlight used directly surplus charges evening export import
Step 1

Your consumption

Your yearly kWh is spread over 365 days using a daily pattern for your profile: evening peaks for a home, daytime use for a business, more in winter than in summer.

Step 2

Your solar roof

Your panels produce a bell curve each day, long in summer and short in winter, scaled to the yield per kWp for your region. Nothing at night.

Step 3

The battery decides

Every 15 minutes: solar covers your use first, the surplus charges the battery, the battery covers your evening, the rest is exported or imported. With 90% round-trip efficiency.

Assumptions and limits

Honest numbers, not a sales pitch

What we assume

  • Battery usable between 10% and 100%, power 0.5 × capacity, 90% round trip.
  • Solar shape for mid-latitudes; your yield per kWp sets the total.
  • Prices stay flat over the years; no inflation, no degradation, no subsidies.
  • Payback = investment ÷ yearly saving, before interest.

What it does not do

  • Hourly prices follow one real past year (2025 wholesale market), not a forecast; available for NL, DE, BE, FR, AT, IT, CH, PL, Australia (New South Wales) and the US (California).
  • No electric car, heat pump or grid services (peak shaving, trading).
  • No taxes, levies or feed-in rules beyond the two prices you enter and the export rule.
  • Standard profiles, not your smart-meter data.

What makes it accurate for you

  • Use the all-in price you really pay per kWh, from your bill.
  • Use the export price your supplier really pays.
  • For a quote, ask an installer to check roof orientation and shading.
  • Want it on your own measured data? See below.
For energy suppliers, installers and platforms

Put this engine in your own app

The same calculation runs on real smart-meter data in the WVE customer portal in the Netherlands: a virtual battery that follows a customer's measured 15-minute consumption for a month, with notifications and a report. Suppliers and installers can licence the engine for their own app, their own data and their own customers.

  • Rule-based, explainable calculations with visible assumptions. No black box.
  • Runs on your side as a module, or as an API hosted by us.
  • White-label: your brand, your currency, your tariffs, your languages.
  • Proven in production with Dutch households since 2026.

Free option: put the simulator on your own website in two minutes. Pricing for the engine starts with a pilot; software licence from € 995 per month including 100 simulations. We reply within two working days.

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