Solar payback across European cities: the 2026 city-by-city dataset
Dataset · Updated 25 September 2026 · 26 cities · 8 countries
The same 5 kWp system pays back in about 5 years in Naples but never in Paris or Lyon. Seville gets 91% more sun than Glasgow. Yet within France, Marseille out-yields Paris by 41% and still struggles to pay back. Climate sets your yield; policy sets your ceiling.
Payback on a 5 kWp system, ranked by city
| # | City | Country | Payback | IRR | Yield | Year-1 saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naples | Italy | 4.9 yrs | 20.1% | 1449 kWh/kWp | €1,026 |
| 2 | Rome | Italy | 5.0 yrs | 19.8% | 1429 kWh/kWp | €1,012 |
| 3 | Milan | Italy | 5.6 yrs | 17.7% | 1298 kWh/kWp | €919 |
| 4 | Seville | Spain | 6.8 yrs | 14.1% | 1597 kWh/kWp | €830 |
| 5 | Valencia | Spain | 7.0 yrs | 13.8% | 1563 kWh/kWp | €813 |
| 6 | Madrid | Spain | 7.1 yrs | 13.6% | 1548 kWh/kWp | €805 |
| 7 | Barcelona | Spain | 7.3 yrs | 13.2% | 1508 kWh/kWp | €784 |
| 8 | Munich | Germany | 7.5 yrs | 12.7% | 1097 kWh/kWp | €898 |
| 9 | Berlin | Germany | 8.1 yrs | 11.6% | 1022 kWh/kWp | €837 |
| 10 | Cologne | Germany | 8.3 yrs | 11.3% | 1003 kWh/kWp | €822 |
| 11 | Hamburg | Germany | 8.7 yrs | 10.6% | 955 kWh/kWp | €782 |
| 12 | London | United Kingdom | 10.2 yrs | 8.3% | 988 kWh/kWp | £924 |
| 13 | Brussels | Belgium | 10.2 yrs | 8.6% | 1009 kWh/kWp | €693 |
| 14 | Antwerp | Belgium | 10.2 yrs | 8.6% | 1005 kWh/kWp | €690 |
| 15 | Birmingham | United Kingdom | 10.8 yrs | 7.6% | 940 kWh/kWp | £879 |
| 16 | Rotterdam | Netherlands | 12.4 yrs | 7.3% | 1000 kWh/kWp | €644 |
| 17 | Amsterdam | Netherlands | 12.5 yrs | 7.2% | 992 kWh/kWp | €638 |
| 18 | Utrecht | Netherlands | 12.5 yrs | 7.2% | 991 kWh/kWp | €638 |
| 19 | Manchester | United Kingdom | 13.2 yrs | 6.5% | 861 kWh/kWp | £805 |
| 20 | Glasgow | United Kingdom | 13.6 yrs | 6.1% | 835 kWh/kWp | £781 |
| 21 | Kraków | Poland | 16.0 yrs | 4.5% | 1045 kWh/kWp | PLN 2,637 |
| 22 | Gdańsk | Poland | 16.2 yrs | 4.3% | 1028 kWh/kWp | PLN 2,595 |
| 23 | Warsaw | Poland | 16.5 yrs | 4.1% | 1014 kWh/kWp | PLN 2,560 |
| 24 | Marseille | France | 24.9 yrs | 0.0% | 1563 kWh/kWp | €510 |
| 25 | Paris | France | No payback | -3.2% | 1108 kWh/kWp | €362 |
| 26 | Lyon | France | No payback | -2.2% | 1239 kWh/kWp | €404 |
How much sun each city gets (specific yield)
Annual kWh per kWp installed: the climate signal, before any tariff or incentive enters the maths.
Within a country, location alone moves yield
Same tariffs, same install cost, same incentive. Only the climate changes. This is the pure cost of living in the cloudier half of your country.
How we worked this out (methodology)
We run the same 5 kWp, due-south (equator-facing), 35°-tilt system through our public engine for 26 European cities. The yield comes from PVGIS climate data at each city's real coordinates; the economics (retail tariff, export rate, install cost, incentive; see DATA_SOURCES.md) come from that city's country. Within a country the economics are identical, so any difference in payback between two cities is pure climate. Ranked by simple payback; payback, NPV and savings are in each country's local currency. An estimate, not a quote.
Cities span three currencies (GBP, EUR, PLN), so compare them on payback and IRR (both currency-independent) rather than on the cash figures, which are shown in each country's local currency. Every input (tariffs, export rates, install costs and incentives) is the verified figure behind our calculator; see the per-country sources in our data notes. Figures are estimates, not quotes.
See the payback for your own city
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