Techno-Economic and Safety Assessment of Plug-and-Play Photovoltaic Systems in Belgium

Plug-and-play photovoltaic (PV) systems offer a simple and accessible alternative for residential power generation. These systems, which integrate a PV panel and a microinverter, can be connected directly to a household socket. This paper evaluates the technical performance, safety, and economic viability of one such system in the Belgian residential context, where plug-and-play PV is allowed for residential use since March 17<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">th</sup>, 2025. Laboratory tests were conducted to assess compliance with safety standards, including over/under-voltage protection, and anti-islanding response. Additionally, a cost-benefit analysis was performed using real consumption profiles and dynamic and fixed electricity tariff structures. The results show that while plug-and-play PV systems are limited in capacity, they are financially interesting. However, their profitability strongly depends on installation conditions and user consumption behavior. The system that was tested in our lab displayed compliance with most standard requirements but presented a problematic behavior in terms of harmonic current distortion, which stresses the importance of ensuring the quality of the (cheap) microinverters used for these purposes.