Solar payback across European cities: the 2026 city-by-city dataset
Dataset · Updated 21 June 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, 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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