While balcony solar panels are booming across Europe, Hungary has just banned them

Locally known as 'balcony solar panels', these energy storage devices are currently banned in Hungary. However, they are growing in popularity among European households due to their ease of installation and low cost, not to mention the cost savings they can deliver.

Balcony solar panels can cover up to 25% of a household's annual electricity demand.

Since mid-April this year, Belgian households have been able to use plug-in solar panels and battery energy storage systems. These are significantly more attractive for use in apartment buildings and sublets, where larger, more expensive roof-mounted systems would be costly to install.

At the end of June, the UK government announced that it would conduct a safety study this year with the aim of trebling solar capacity by 2030 and enabling the country to exploit the potential of plug-in solar systems in the coming years.

Mini solar systems, which usually consist of one or two solar panels that can be plugged into a grounded home outlet, can be easily installed on balconies, in gardens, on walls, on roofs, in sheds or on terraces. These systems have a peak output of 400–2000 watts (W).

These systems usually generate electricity that is consumed directly by household appliances. However, in some cases, it is fed back into the grid via the electricity meter as surplus generation. Typically, mini solar systems can cover a household's base-load electricity consumption, i.e. the consumption of electrical appliances that operate continuously during the day, such as fridges and Wi-Fi routers, as well as other appliances during peak periods.

The use of balcony solar panels is increasing rapidly across Europe.

Germany is the largest market,

having installed 1 million registered plug-in solar systems by June 2025, including 135,000 in the first four months of this year alone.

However, it is estimated that there are up to four million solar systems in operation in Germany, many of which are not yet registered. Despite this, the German government has significantly simplified the registration process for mini solar devices in recent years.

Although concerns about safety, efficiency, quality and the impact on the electricity grid may militate against balcony solar panels, governments are becoming more permissive towards such systems.

In Germany, a new product standard for grid-connected solar PV systems is also on the agenda. This will define basic safety requirements for manufacturers, suppliers and product testing, and is expected to be finalised by the end of 2025.

While other European countries are developing new regulations to legalise and standardise plug-in solar systems, there are currently no uniform EU-wide regulations for these systems, resulting in different rules in different countries.

These products have been available in discount stores for years. IKEA recently started selling mini solar systems with integrated battery energy storage in Germany, and these are also available online.

Alongside the increasing popularity of balcony solar panels,

small-scale battery energy storage solutions with capacities of 1–5 kilowatt-hours are also becoming more common in Europe.

According to a report by SolarPower Europe, the number of small-scale battery systems with a capacity of less than 2 kWh in Germany increased 24-fold between 2023 and 2024.

Thanks to the rapid and general fall in the price of solar panels, the price of plug-in systems has also fallen significantly over the past period. The price of the smallest single solar panel kits, with an output of around 400 W, used to be around €300–500, but they can now be purchased for around €200.

Kits including battery energy storage are much more expensive, costing up to €1,500–3,000. However, the latter can support systems with up to five solar panels.

Of the EU's 27 member states, only Hungary and Sweden currently prohibit the use of plug-in solar systems.

Previously, Hungarian electricity companies did not allow photovoltaic installations of up to 0.8 kW. However, from 1 January 2025, the government has explicitly banned the installation of balcony solar panels, having transposed the ban into law just hours after the deadline for the public consultation.

The move follows the government's commitment to removing regulatory restrictions on the domestic use of balcony solar panels under the Hungarian Recovery Programme (RRF), which is funded by the EU. The proposed measure, approved by the European Commission in November 2023, and supplemented by the REPowerEU chapter in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) adopted by the European Council in December, would have only required notification/registration by the customer before installing photovoltaic installations of up to 0.8 kW, in line with European practice.

Cover image (for illustration purposes only): Getty Images