{"id":8021,"date":"2026-09-15T09:44:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T09:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/?p=8021"},"modified":"2026-09-15T09:44:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T09:44:58","slug":"beyond-south-facing-yield-designing-zurich-pv-for-winter-electricity-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/our-blog\/beyond-south-facing-yield-designing-zurich-pv-for-winter-electricity-value\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond South-Facing Yield: Designing Zurich PV for Winter Electricity Value"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>On the south-facing default\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019re all familiar with the same rule of thumb: point it south, tilt it around 30-35 degrees, chase the highest annual kWh number you can get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Back when a kWh in July and a kWh in January were worth roughly the same to the client, this fared fine.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Definitely not now. And the gap gets wider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Swiss spot prices sag toward zero. Even below it sometimes, on summer afternoons when half the country&#8217;s rooftops are dumping power onto the grid at once.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Winter prices keep climbing as the grid leans harder on solar to fill a gap it can&#8217;t fill in December.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Winterstrombonus kicked in for systems commissioned from January 1. It pays a one-time CHF 3.50 per kWh of winter output above 500 kWh\/kWp. Most flat, south-facing Plateau installs never get close.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So we&#8217;ve got a situation where the metric everyone was trained on (maximize annual yield), sort of works against the client&#8217;s financial interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A kWh produced in January is worth more than the same produced in June. Both on the market and now through direct subsidy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;re leaving money on the table if we keep designing for the summer curve.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why the standard tilt falls short in winter<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>Around Zurich, the winter sun barely clears 20 degrees above the horizon. Meanwhile a 30-35 degree tilt is built to catch high summer sun, not that.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Typical Plateau systems land somewhere around 250-300 kWh\/kWp for the winter half-year.<br><br>Compare that with what steep\/vertical bifacial setups do at Swiss test sites today:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>60\u00b0 monofacial modules: ~<strong>743 kWh\/kWp<\/strong> in winter<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>60\u00b0 bifacial: around ~<strong>889 kWh\/kWp<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>90\u00b0 vertical monofacial: winter output making up <strong>55%<\/strong> of total annual yield, vs roughly 25-40% for a standard flat-tilt roof<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The reason is pretty clear once you see it. Steep panels face low winter sun head-on instead of glancing off it. And if there&#8217;s snow on the ground, near-vertical bifacial modules pick up a decent amount of reflected light off its back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s where the reported \u201cwinter boost\u201d comes from.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What this means on a real roof<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;re not usually building a greenfield alpine array.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;ve got an existing roof, maybe a facade, and a budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Put this through the winter lens:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ask <strong><em>which orientations get the system past the winter threshold<\/em><\/strong><em> <\/em>without getting the annual number too low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And <strong><em>facades stop being a fallback option.<\/em><\/strong><em> <\/em>Now they&#8217;re genuinely useful for winter production. A vertical bifacial facade can stack the GREIV integration bonus on top of the Winterstrombonus if it clears 500 kWh\/kWp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Big roofs don&#8217;t need one uniform tilt.<\/em><\/strong> Split it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A steeper section (45-60 degrees) doing double duty on winter yield and snow shedding<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A flatter section left alone for the summer\/annual number<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Modeling the blended winter fraction, not just total kWp installed<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Bifacial as a starting point.<\/em><\/strong><em> <\/em>On a light membrane roof or anywhere with reliable snow cover, a 5-12% bifacial gain on flat roofs is enough now to specify by default.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Price against the whole incentive stack.<\/em><\/strong> Potentially, a design that clears the winter threshold can combine:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Winterstrombonus\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cantonal top-ups<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Standard feed-in revenue (it\u2019s already moving toward quarterly and eventually hourly pricing)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What we&#8217;re telling clients this year<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Don&#8217;t default to just a south-facing tilt on new Plateau projects. Run the winter fraction and see where it lands.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you\u2019re above ~30 kWp and targeting 2026 or later, check if a steeper or facade-integrated sub array gets you over the 500 kWh\/kWp line.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hourly spot pricing kicks in, Jan 2027. Winter-strong systems will feel the upside first.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>On the Plateau this has become a pretty basic design question. Certainly not an alpine niche anymore.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Steeper designs might generate fewer total kWh over the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It can still make the client more money. Because more of that output lands when the price curve <strong>and <\/strong>now the bonus, actually reward it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the south-facing default\u00a0 We\u2019re all familiar with the same rule of thumb: point it south, tilt it around 30-35 degrees, chase the highest annual kWh number you can get. Back when a kWh in July and a kWh in January were worth roughly the same to the client, this fared fine.&nbsp; Definitely not now. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8022,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[217,215,185,214,216],"class_list":["post-8021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-blog","tag-cnc","tag-eva-foam","tag-marine-deck","tag-marine-europe","tag-nesting"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8023,"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8021\/revisions\/8023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}