Can an Energy Autarky Private House be Economical? An Analysis Based on Germany

Abstract

The energy self-sufficiency of private households is a very interesting topic against the background of the current developments in the world, such as power failures as a result of weather catastrophes and new infrastructure challenges as a result of transport electrification. There are various options available for achieving this goal. In the context of this work, a newly built single-family house in Germany with a photovoltaic system with a power storage system and a heat pump with surface heat collectors will be used to investigate whether energy autarky (for electricity and heat) can be economically designed - in comparison to a classic energy supply with electricity from the grid, and a gas condensing boiler heating system. The results show that, through the high gas and electricity prices, scenarios in Germany allow such an economical operation compared to the classic energy supply. However, a condition for this is always that there is a connection to the grid in order to be able to compensate for the differences between electricity supply and demand.