The SunOyster 8 (SO8) follows the sun all day long. Its parabolic mirrors concentrate the direct light onto a line. The receiver is located in this line and converts the radiation into heat in the case of the SO8 heat and into electricity and heat simultaneously in the case of our patented hybrid receiver.
The SO8 can usually be erected without a building permit and is an economical and visually appealing alternative to a conventional solar thermal system or even a PV system on the roof.
Due to the rounded mirror corners and future color designs, the SunOyster 8 claim to be the most beautiful solar thermal system on the market.
The SunOyster 8 is available in the following versions:
The plant is tracked by an electronic control based on the astronomical position of the sun throughout the day to harvest a maximum of solar energy. The control system closes the SO8 when the wind speed measured by the installed anemometer exceeds the stored value - on the ground usually at more than 55 km/h and on the roof, for example, already at > 25 km/h. The SO8 closes when the wind speed exceeds the stored value. The SO8 thus protects itself like an oyster that closes in case of danger - hence the name SunOyster.
In almost all german federal states, the following applies: solar systems on or at the house or on the garage or carport can be erected without a building permit or building notification. Exceptions sometimes apply on high-rise buildings. Furthermore, two SO8 on the ground can usually be erected without any building procedure, because they are less than 3 m high and together less than 9 m wide. Distances from the neighbor must be maintained.
The responsibility for permissibility under building law in individual cases lies with the customer. Furthermore, an electricity-generating plant must be registered with the local grid operator by the electrician erecting it. And the customer must register an electricity-generating plant with the market master data register.
The SunOyster 8 is delivered like furniture store furniture in lightweight individual parts. Only the two mirror segments for the SO8 are slightly larger, measuring 2 m x 2 m. The ground anchors can be screwed into the ground with a hand tool and can withstand tensile loads of more than one ton per anchor. Our distributors' teams or our own teams can regularly complete the installation, including ground anchor assembly, within one day. Contact us if you would like to install the SO8 on a flat roof, on a pitched roof with a slope of up to 30° or even on the ridge of a pitched roof.
There are two types of funding for a solar heating system in Germany:
The "Bundesförderung effiziente Gebäude (BEG) - Einzelmaßnahmen" gives a subsidy of 25% on the total system costs of solar collectors for heating support in existing residential buildings, i.e. the costs of the solar system, the piping of the solar circuit, the solar station with solar pump for circulating the solar fluid in the solar circuit and the heat storage tank. For the replacement of a functioning oil, coal or night storage heating system, there is a bonus of another 10% of the system costs. The Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (Bafa) is responsible.
For solar thermal heating support in existing non-residential buildings, the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) is responsible. Applications must be submitted before the system is purchased. See the overview athttps://www.bafa.de/DE/Energie/Effiziente_Gebaeude/Foerderprogramm_im_Ueberblick/foerderprogramm_im_ueberblick_node.html.
Furthermore, you could receive a low-interest loan of up to 150,000 euros per apartment from the KfW for a comprehensive energy renovation of an existing building that includes solar energy, and a repayment subsidy of 5% to 45% (KfW loan program 261, https://www.kfw.de/inlandsfoerderung/Privatpersonen/Bestandsimmobilie/Energieeffizient-Sanieren/Solarthermie/). Here, however, a building energy consultant from the list must always be consulted first (https://www.energie-effizienz-experten.de/).
For process heat, i.e., the use of more than 50 percent of the solar heat for processes, i.e., for the production, further processing or refinement of products or for the provision of services, Bafa provides subsidies of 55% of the system costs for small and medium-sized enterprises and 45% for larger enterprises under the so-called Module 2 (https://www.bafa.de/DE/Energie/Energieeffizienz/Energieeffizienz_und_Prozesswaerme/Modul2_Prozesswaerme/modul2_prozesswaerme_node.html/ ).
Alternatively, KfW grants low-interest loans with repayment subsidies in the amount of the above-mentioned subsidies plusminus 50% of the system costs (KfW loan program no. 295, https://www.kfw.de/inlandsfoerderung/Unternehmen/Energie-Umwelt/F%C3%B6rderprodukte/Energieeffizienz-und-Prozessw%C3%A4rme-aus-Erneuerbaren-Energien-(295)/?redirect=497472/ ) .
The prerequisite for the subsidy is the registration of the solar system in the list of eligible systems. This has already been done for the SunOyster 16 and will be done shortly for the SunOyster 8.
Product information
Does the SO8 need to be cleaned?
Over time, dirt can accumulate on the mirror side as well as on the mirror rear side of the SO8, just as is the case on conventional PV modules. Due to the closed rest position of the mirrors, the mirror side only gets dirty relatively slowly. However, to optimize the yield by a few percentage points, the SO8 can be cleaned occasionally - for example, twice a year. This basically works like cleaning a window: So it's best to first spray it with a soft jet (not with a high-pressure cleaner) to remove coarse impurities. Then rub with a soft brush and mild cleaning agent, especially in the area of the lower aluminum profiles of pvplus PV modules. Finally, wipe off with a soft rubber lip to avoid lime marks from the water used.
Does the SO8 need to be maintained?
We aim for a scheduled maintenance interval of 5 years for the SO8 - much less frequently than for your car or heating system. Then the maintenance should cost around 300 euros per system.
Do you also sell electric batteries and are they worthwhile?
Together with the SO8 we also offer batteries. These are then placed in the technical room of the building near the control box. The inverter is then also installed there. We offer batteries from 5 kWh to 25 kWh, i.e. for the needs of a single-family house up to those of a small commercial enterprise or apartment building. Unfortunately, stationary batteries are still quite expensive - though still cheaper with us than with most competitors. Still, batteries can be worthwhile because they can raise the percentage of self-consumption of solar power in a single-family home from typically 30% to about 70%. This also allows more of the expensive electricity from the grid (costing around 50 eurocents/kWh) to be replaced by the inexpensive electricity from the SO8 (under 10 eurocents/kWh) or from the SO8 and battery (around 15 eurocents/kWh). However, we also offer the possibility to buy an inverter already prepared for batteries (Growatt XH series) for a small extra charge. Then the battery including the battery management system can still be retrofitted at a later date, when the solar buyer has recovered financially from the purchase or batteries have become cheaper. More information on this topic can be found on our Batterieseite
How economical is the SO8?
The economic viability of the SO8 with its respective price including ancillary costs for substructure, transport and installation depends primarily on two factors: How much energy can the SO8 generate at the respective location and what is the value of this energy? As far as you consume electricity yourself, you usually save 40 or 50 euro cents or even more per kilowatt hour of electricity consumption at present. On the other hand, there is at best little remuneration for feeding electricity into the grid, so it can be worthwhile to increase your own consumption with the help of a battery, to optimize your own electricity consumption, to charge electric vehicles, or to use heating rods to drive the electricity into your own heat storage system. The value of heat is measured by the cost of alternative heat generation. Currently, the cost of the most common heat generator, gas, is often 15 Ct/kWh. The payback period for a SO8 without a loan is typically between 4 and 10 years. If debt capital is used (e.g. KfW loan - KfW program No. 270), the repayment period on the equity capital is often between 1.5 and 3 years.
Do I get a feed-in tariff for electricity fed into the grid?
If you do not consume generated solar power yourself at the time of its generation, it is normally fed into the grid. For the remuneration of this feed-in, a distinction must be made whether the system is located on the building or on the ground:
For small PV systems on the building, one gets a modest feed-in tariff of currently effectively 8.2 euro cents per kWh. Of course, this is not much compared to the savings on electricity purchases (currently usually around 50 euro cents per kWh of electricity for private individuals) or gas purchases (e.g. 15 euro cents per kWh of gas). Therefore, it may be worthwhile to temporarily store the solar electricity in batteries and consume it at another time of the day, or to use it to heat one's own heat storage unit by means of a heating rod.
For small PV systems on the ground up to 20 kWp, there should also be a feed-in tariff in the amount mentioned if a PV system on the roof is not possible. However, the federal government still has to issue an implementing regulation for this. In other cases, there is no feed-in tariff.
Do I have to pay sales tax on the price of the SO8?
Through the Annual Tax Act (§ 13 para. 3 UStG), the legislature has largely provided small PV systems and thus also the PVmover or pvplus with the SO8 with a VAT rate of 0, but not solar thermal systems! Thus, for the SO8 in principle a sales tax of 19% is to be paid, but not for the flanged pvplus. For this, there are subsidies for the SO8 heat.
Do I have to pay income tax on income from electricity generation?
Here, too, a distinction must be made between installations on the ground and installations on buildings:
For installations on the ground, the income from electricity generation is generally subject to income tax. However, there is now an exception for systems up to 10 kWp: The Federal Ministry of Finance created a simplification rule for small photovoltaic systems in its letter dated October 29, 2021 (GZ IV C 6 - S 2240/19/10006 :006, DOK 2021/1117804). According to this, the tax office assumes without further examination that there is a hobby business that is irrelevant for income tax purposes if the operator declares in writing that he wishes to make use of the simplification rule and meets the requirements for this. The declaration is also effective for subsequent years. If you make use of the simplification rule, the otherwise possibly required, time-consuming forecast calculation is no longer necessary and you no longer have to prepare a profit determination - even for already existing installations. See in more detailMicrosoft Word - Merkblatt - Anpassung Einheit (bayern.de) .
As a result of the Annual Tax Act, investments related to the building are largely exempt from income tax. In detail, the following applies according to Section 3 No. 72 of the German Income Tax Act (EStG):
"Tax-exempt income and withdrawals related to the operation of
a) photovoltaic systems on, at or in single-family houses (including outbuildings) or non-residential buildings with an installed gross capacity of up to 30 kW (peak) according to the market master data register and
b) photovoltaic systems on, at or in other buildings with an installed gross capacity of up to 15 kW (peak) per residential or commercial unit according to the market master data register,
a total of no more than 100 kW (peak) per taxpayer or co-entrepreneur. If income is generated pursuant to Section 2(1), first sentence, number 2, and if the total income generated from this activity is tax-exempt pursuant to sentence 1, no profit shall be determined."
In practice, this means that almost all smaller solar installations are tax-exempt and no profit is to be determined; in contrast to open land, there is no option here.
However, in both cases, i.e. when installed on land or buildings, further taxes can be saved to a limited extent: If the work services are shown separately in the invoice - as SunOyster Systems does - then up to 20% of the amount can be deducted from the tax as craftsman services. In detail, § 35a paragraph 3 EStG regulates:
"For the use of craftsman services for renovation, maintenance and modernization measures, the standard income tax, reduced by the other tax reductions, is reduced on application by 20 percent of the taxpayer's expenses, but by a maximum of 1,200 euros. This does not apply to publicly funded measures for which low-interest loans or tax-free grants are used."
What is the price of a SunOyster 8?
The SunOyster 8 is a premium product that has so far only been manufactured in small quantities. Nevertheless, it is already quite economical in most applications. Write us a message and either our local sales partner or the sales department of SunOyster Systems itself will get back to you immediately.
Can the SO8 also be installed on the roof?
SunOyster Systems has had wind tunnel tests carried out to determine the exact wind loads at different installation locations and especially on the roof. Due to the flat protective position, the wind loads of the PVmover are limited and a roof installation is basically possible. Send us an email if you would like to know more about installation options on the roof.
Monday - Friday from 8 - 4
