Plug-in solar 800 watt 2026: what the inverter cuts off
With 2,000 Wp of panels facing south, an 800-watt balcony system delivers 1,616 kWh a year, while the inverter clips 497 kWh at midday peaks. Mounted upright it clips only 204 kWh.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
What the 800 VA inverter clips with more panels
Clipped per year
497 kWh
| Output before the inverter | 2,113 kWh |
| Share clipped | 23.5 % |
| usable after the inverter | 1,616 kWh |
| of which used at home (2,500 kWh) | 722 kWh |
The 800 watts of a German balcony power plant (Balkonkraftwerk) are a limit on the inverter, not on the panels. Section 8(5a) EEG allows a plug-in solar device 800 VA of inverter output and 2,000 Wp of installed panel output, each counted for all devices behind one point of supply together. If you connect more panel area than the inverter may deliver, you lose the peak on sunny middays: the inverter clips (Abregelung). On the German average at a 35° south tilt that is 64 kWh a year with 1,200 Wp (5 % of output), 250 kWh with 1,600 Wp and 497 kWh or 24 % with 2,000 Wp. Still, the usable amount rises from 845 kWh at 800 Wp to 1,616 kWh at 2,000 Wp, because every panel counts in the morning, the evening and in winter. Upright on a railing, or facing east or west, clipping is much smaller. The old practical limit of 600 watts no longer applies since the Solar Package I of May 2024.
Watts, watt peak, volt-amperes: three numbers on the box
A kit often says “800 watts” and next to it “2,000 Wp”. The first number describes the inverter (Wechselrichter), which turns the panels' direct current into alternating current for the socket. The law states it in volt-amperes: section 8(5a) EEG allows 800 VA. For an inverter delivering almost pure active power, 800 VA is in practice 800 watts. The second number, watt peak, is the panels' output under laboratory light of 1,000 W/m² at 25 °C. A balcony almost never sees that: most of the time a panel delivers less than its rating, which is why you may connect more panel capacity than the inverter passes on.
Before the Solar Package I (Solarpaket I), the EEG set no output limit of its own for plug-in devices; according to the Federal Network Agency, their inverters were usually rated up to 600 watts, and simplified connection depended on the technical requirements of the VDE. Since 16 May 2024 (Federal Law Gazette 2024 I no. 151) the limits are in the statute itself, together with the rule that the grid operator may not demand an extra notice. Registration is explained under register plug-in solar.
How much the inverter clips
When the panels deliver more power than the inverter may output, it holds its output at 800 VA. The surplus power is never generated; it is lost. This site's engine works it out from the distribution of sunlight over the quarter-hours of a year according to PVGIS.
| Panel output | before the inverter | clipped | usable | used at home |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 800 Wp | 845 kWh | 1 kWh | 845 kWh | 499 kWh |
| 1,200 Wp | 1,268 kWh | 64 kWh | 1,204 kWh | 601 kWh |
| 1,600 Wp | 1,691 kWh | 250 kWh | 1,441 kWh | 670 kWh |
| 2,000 Wp | 2,113 kWh | 497 kWh | 1,616 kWh | 722 kWh |
Between 800 Wp and 2,000 Wp the panel area grows two and a half times, usable output by only 772 kWh. Clipping only becomes noticeable above roughly 1,000 Wp and then eats an ever larger share of each extra panel. The mini calculator above shows the value for your panel output and direction.
Why upright panels rarely reach 800 VA
On a balcony railing, panels usually hang upright. The high summer sun at midday then strikes them at a shallow angle, and output mostly stays below the limit. With 2,000 Wp upright facing south, the inverter clips only 204 kWh a year (13.9 %), leaving 1,256 kWh usable, more than twice as much as 800 Wp upright (584 kWh). Facing east at a 35° tilt, clipping is 241 kWh, facing west 283 kWh, because generation spreads over the morning or afternoon. This is where full panel capacity makes most sense. More on direction and tilt in the guide on orientation.
A battery on the panel side catches the peak
A battery that takes the direct current before the inverter charges exactly when the panels exceed 800 VA and releases the energy in the evening. With 2,000 Wp facing south and 2 kWh of capacity, clipping in the model falls from 497 to 366 kWh, and power used at home rises from 722 to 1,193 kWh. Whether it pays is worked out under plug-in solar with battery. The wording of the law matters here: the 800 VA apply to total inverter output. By that wording, a battery with its own inverter on the household circuit counts towards it.
How many panels make sense for your balcony
The question is not whether 2,000 Wp is allowed but what the last panel still adds. In money: going from 1,600 to 2,000 Wp at 35° south and 36.2 ct/kWh saves only €19 a year, because the extra power arrives mostly at midday, when surplus already flows to the grid. Upright facing south, the same step brings €18 a year. An extra panel therefore only pays for itself after its price divided by that amount, and it needs space, a safe mounting and an inverter with enough inputs.
If you can spread panels over two sides, for example two balcony faces east and west, connect them to separate inverter inputs. They then deliver at different times of day, and the 800 VA limit is reached less often than with the same area facing south. On a south wall with a gently tilted frame, by contrast, a panel output just above 1,000 Wp is often enough to use almost all of the inverter's capacity.
What does not apply to 800 watt devices
For rooftop systems without a smart meter, section 9 EEG has capped feed-in at 60 % of rated output since 25 February 2025; plug-in solar is exempt. The duty to make feed-in remotely controllable does not apply either. The only limit that holds your yield down is your own inverter. The Federal Network Agency answers output questions in its questions and answers on plug-in solar; the irradiation data come from PVGIS.