Background information of the Autarky Rate Tool

The Autarky rate tool is a simple but very useful online tool which is available for everyone who is interested in the installation of electrical storage solutions in combination with renewable energy sources. It works by taking into consideration three main factors; technical, economical and ecological.

The main output is of course the autarky rate, which is a figure for the independency of the public grid. If the autarky rate is high, this means, that the user is able to self-supply major parts of his energy demand. As the economical perspective is always a substantial fact for every investment decision, the energy cost savings as well as a rough estimation of the amortisation period are shown too, to give the user an idea if this configuration is economically feasible or not. To evaluate the ecological impact, the CO2 savings, based on the national electricity mix are calculated.

Another major part of the tool is the checklist, which can be created as pdf-file. On the one hand, the idea of the checklist is to give the user a possibility to save the calculation results and, on the other hand, it should serve as a further explanation how to make results understandable. Even if the tool is designed for an ease of use approach, some additional interpretation aid might be helpful especially for non-expert users, which are also addressed by the Autarky Rate Tool. For example, it is probably not clear for everyone what an autarky rate of e.g. 70 % means. 

Furthermore, if you are intrested in knowing more about the background data going into the Autarky Rate Tool, such as energy and consumer load profiles you can check out this new document.