Explains why the value of injected solar energy has collapsed across Europe and what to do about it. Recaps 'yesterday's deal' — net metering and feed-in tariffs that paid every kWh injected at the retail price — and then unpacks three reasons the deal has effectively ended: oversupply at noon (every roof in a region exports at the same time, so wholesale prices collapse and regularly go negative); the merit-order effect (markets price every kWh at the cost of the most expensive plant needed, which during sunny hours is solar itself, with a zero marginal cost); and the asymmetric treatment of grid fees, levies and taxes (paid on every imported kWh, never returned on exported kWh, an asymmetry that net metering hid and smart meters expose). Argues that the answer is self-consumption and works through three concrete levers: shifting flexible loads to daytime (EV charging, heat-pump boost, appliances), adding a home battery sized to evening load (with the inverter configured to charge from PV first), and joining or starting an energy community to share surplus with neighbours under reduced grid tariffs.
Closes with a re-design takeaway: PV systems should now be sized for self-consumption, not for maximum annual injection.
