Find out what solar is worth on your roof — before the first phone call

For households the price runs roughly 2,050–2,600 KM per kW of installed capacity, covering panels, inverter, mounting, labour and paperwork. A typical 5 kW system therefore lands at 11,000–14,500 KM. Smaller systems cost more per kW because fixed costs are spread over less capacity.

At today's electricity price and full equipment cost, household payback usually runs 12 to 16 years — shorter in Herzegovina and on larger systems, longer in the north and on small ones. Three things shorten it: using more electricity during the day (that output is worth the full retail price), rising electricity prices, and any subsidy you land. Our calculator is deliberately conservative and assumes no subsidy, so real results tend to come out better than shown.

In BiH one kW of installed capacity yields about 1,150 kWh per year in the north and up to 1,400 kWh in Herzegovina, and needs roughly 5 m² of roof. A 5 kW system on a south-facing pitched roof in Mostar produces about 6,900 kWh a year.

The best roofs face south, south-east or south-west with a pitch of 25–35°. East and west give about 13% less but still pay off. North-facing slopes aren't recommended. Flat roofs are fine — panels sit on tilted frames — but need more area because of the gaps between rows.

Winter output drops to roughly 30–40% of summer levels, because days are shorter and the sun sits lower. Snow on the panels stops production, but on tilted panels it usually melts and slides off within a day or two. What matters is the annual balance: the summer surplus covers the winter shortfall.

For most households here a battery doesn't shorten the payback period yet — it adds a lot to the investment, while the grid already acts as “storage” through surplus crediting. A battery makes sense if you have frequent outages or use a lot of electricity in the evening. The usual advice is to install panels first and add a battery later.

Both entities have a customer-producer (prosumer) category that may feed surplus into the grid, but the accounting details, the capacity ceiling and the procedure differ between them and have changed in recent years. The practical rule: system capacity is tied to your connection capacity, and surplus is not credited at the full retail price. Your installer confirms the specific terms for your meter with your distribution utility before installation.

A typical rooftop system for self-consumption needs a notification to the distribution utility, an energy permit or connection approval, a net-metering contract and a bidirectional meter. Serious installers run the whole procedure for you as part of the quote — check that the paperwork is a line item in the quote and not an extra cost later.