A worthwhile investment:
This is how profitable photovoltaic systems are

Photovoltaic systems are clearly a worthwhile investment for the sake of protecting the environment. By choosing a sustainable energy resource, you are playing a key role in the energy transition and helping to achieve our climate goals.

That’s all well and good, you may think, but what does it all look like from an economic perspective? Are photovoltaic systems even profitable? Does a purchase also make financial sense for me?

Attractive financial subsidies

To make a long story short: yes, investing in a PV system also makes financial sense. As a rule, solar systems can be fully amortised after 9 to 15 years. With an average service life of 25 years, you can even make money in the end.

Since photovoltaics is eligible for subsidies in Switzerland due to its positive impact on the environment and climate, you already receive financial support when you purchase a PV system – by means of a small one-off payment (KLEIV). The small one-off payment is granted by the state and is designed to cover a maximum of 30 per cent of your investment costs. You can apply for the subsidy funds to which you are entitled once you have successfully commissioned your PV system. It generally takes 1 to 2 years before you receive your payment.

What’s more, you also benefit from tax breaks. In almost every Swiss canton, you can completely deduct the investment costs for your PV system from your taxes.

Cost-effective for personal use

Once you have successfully commissioned your PV system, you continue to reap the financial benefits. Of course, this is primarily due to the fact that self-produced solar electricity is more affordable than electricity from the grid.

This translates into the profitability of your PV system: The more solar power you utilise directly on site at the time of production for your private use, the sooner your PV system will also pay off financially. You can increase your personal consumption, for example, by also using the solar power to support the heating system.

Selling surplus electricity

In spite of this, you will most likely not be able to utilise all of the electricity generated for your house. In this case, the excess electricity is fed into the public grid and sold to the local electricity company in return for a reimbursement. This requires that your PV system is part of a network system, i.e. that it is connected to the public grid. This is the case with the vast majority of PV systems in Switzerland. If not, it is referred to as a stand-alone system. Incidentally, grid operators are obligated to buy your surplus electricity. However, the amount of the feed-in tariff may significantly vary depending on the grid operator.

As you can see, PV systems are not only environmentally viable. They are also a sound investment from an economic perspective.