Plug-In Solar and Bidirectional EV Charging: My Highlights from The Smarter E Europe

I’m in Munich at The Smarter E Europe, Europe’s largest trade fair for the energy industry. Trade fairs like this are like fashion shows: lots of wild, innovative concepts are presented, and as an end user you wonder how you’re supposed to fit them into everyday life. Two topics caught my eye that can make an impact in everyday life: plug-in solar systems and bidirectional charging.

Plug-in solar: power with plug and play

Because of the rising electricity prices since 2022, the number of plug-in solar systems in Germany exploded in 2024, doubling to 780,000 systems. Important reasons:

• The registration process has been simplified. A simple registration in the Federal Network Agency’s Market Master Data Register is enough.
• The permitted feed-in limit was raised from 600 to 800 watts.

With a plug-in solar system, you generate your own electricity from solar energy and feed it into your home grid through a normal outlet with plug and play, no electrician needed. That saves money. I had it explained to me on the HomePower 2000 Ultra from Jackery, the company’s newest plug-in solar system. Jackery is one of the leading providers and has a booth at the fair. The device is especially suited to apartments, smaller households and outdoor use.

HomePower 2000 Ultra specs:

• Supports up to 2,000 watts via the PV input and an additional 800 watts via an external microinverter, for example for existing PV systems. Total output: 2,800 watts.
• Base storage capacity of 2 kWh, expandable to 8 kWh with up to three battery packs. That can power an apartment for up to 1.2 days.
• In a power outage, the device switches to off-grid mode within 20 milliseconds and keeps important devices like the fridge, router and lights running.
• According to Jackery, you save up to 450 g of CO2 per kilowatt-hour and up to €1,300 in electricity costs per year, so the device pays for itself within 2 years.

Jackery Home app: With the dynamic electricity tariffs feature, you charge the plug-in solar system from the grid at low-cost times. When electricity is expensive, for example in the evening, the power comes from the storage unit. I find that extremely smart, especially when there isn’t much sun.

Outdoor: You can also use the device as a battery in the garden or in a camper. It supports charging from solar and grid power at the same time and is 80% charged in 52 minutes. That’s enough for garden parties or, on the road, for a fridge, coffee machine and lights.

Safety: The HomePower 2000 Ultra has a three-level concept. Sensors monitor the battery and electronics around the clock and detect open flames, abnormal currents and overheating. They also respond to weather warnings from the German Weather Service, and you get warned through the app. If needed, the system releases an aerosol-based extinguishing agent within one second, which stays active even when the device is switched off.

With a plug-in solar system like this, you save money, protect the environment and have your own emergency generator at home. I find the concept so exciting that I’ll be testing it at home myself soon. The device is now officially available. The link is in the buy links, and it’s an ad.

Bidirectional charging: the electric car as energy storage

Bidirectional charging lets electric cars not only take in power but also give it back, into the home grid or even the public grid. The battery becomes a mobile energy storage unit. Companies at the fair have specialized in this and showed what it looks like.

Today, one in five electric cars is already able to give back power when it’s plugged in at a charging station. That gets interesting when the grid is under heavy load and electricity is expensive, for example in the evening, when everyone is home, the kitchen is running and the TV is on, while the electric cars with charged batteries sit unused in front of the house. You save money and protect the environment. Statistics talk about 96 kg of CO2 per year.

If the system is expanded, which also requires a suitable charging station, the entire electricity demand could come from renewable energy: during the day from wind, solar and hydro, and in the evening additionally from the cars. That would be a game changer for the grid and the environment, and coal and nuclear power plants would no longer be needed. In France, owners of electric cars and charging stations already earn money when they feed power into the public grid at peak times. Not in Germany, where the many regulations are in our way again.

If you’re thinking about getting an electric car, you should look into bidirectional charging.

Verdict

Those are my two highlights from The Smarter E Europe. I hope they get you thinking about how each of us can already use renewable energy today, within our own means.