How much electricity does a solar panel produce in Malta?
The European Commission's PVGIS model puts a south-facing array at the optimal 32° tilt at about 1,668 kWh per kWp per year in Malta, and 1,677 in Gozo. Here is what kWp means, what the 14% loss assumption covers, and how to test a yield claim in a quote against the same model.
kWp is a rating, not a reading
Every yield figure on this page is expressed per kWp — kilowatt-peak. That is the nameplate rating of the array under standard test conditions: a defined light intensity, a defined cell temperature, a defined spectrum. It is a laboratory benchmark, not a prediction. A 3.5 kWp array does not produce 3.5 kW for any particular length of time, and on a hot August afternoon in Malta it will be producing noticeably less than its nameplate because cell efficiency falls as the cells heat up.
What kWp is good for is scaling. Annual yield is close enough to linear in array size that one figure — kWh per kWp per year — covers every system on a given roof. That is the number to ask for, and the number to check.
What PVGIS v5.3 returns for Malta
PVGIS is the European Commission Joint Research Centre's photovoltaic estimation tool. Version 5.3 uses the SARAH3 satellite irradiation dataset. Run on 16 October 2026 for Malta, with the default 14% system losses, it gives:
| Orientation and tilt | kWh per kWp per year | Against south 32° |
|---|---|---|
| South, 32° (optimal) | 1,668 | — |
| South, 30° | 1,667 | −0.1% |
| Flat, 0° | 1,476 | −11% |
| East, 30° | 1,376 | −17% |
| West, 30° | 1,393 | −16% |
| Gozo, optimal tilt | 1,677 | +0.5% |
Three things fall out of that table.
The optimum is flat-bottomed. Moving from 32° to 30° costs one kilowatt-hour per kWp per year. Anyone presenting a two-degree tilt adjustment as a meaningful upgrade is selling something the physics does not support.
Orientation matters far more than tilt. East at 30° loses 17% against south. That is real, but it is also not fatal — an east-facing array still returns 1,376 kWh/kWp, and if your consumption is weighted towards mornings, more of that output is self-consumed.
Gozo is not sunnier in any way you will notice. The 0.5% advantage is inside the noise. What Gozo actually changes is logistics — every panel, frame and inverter crosses on the ferry — not generation.
What the 14% covers, and what it does not
PVGIS's default 14% system loss is a single catch-all applied between the modelled array output and the electricity you are credited with: DC and AC cabling, inverter conversion, soiling, and mismatch between modules in a string. It is a reasonable default for a competently built system.
It does not include shading. PVGIS models an unobstructed plane. It knows nothing about the neighbour's third-floor extension, the lift motor room, the water tanks, the TV aerial or the washing line that crosses the roof at two o'clock in March. Partial shading on a string can cost far more output than its share of the roof area suggests. This is the single largest source of divergence between a PVGIS number and a real meter, and it can only be settled on the roof — which is what the free roof planner and a site visit from a verified installer are for.
It also does not model ageing. Panels output less in year 20 than year 1. Our sources do not establish a rate, so no figure is given here.
The average domestic system
The National Statistics Office puts the average domestic PV system in Malta at 3.5 kWp, with 268,016.5 kWp installed nationally. (That page was seen in search results only at the time of writing and should be verified before being quoted.)
At 3.5 kWp:
- South, 32°: about 5,840 kWh a year
- Flat: about 5,170 kWh
- West, 30°: about 4,880 kWh
- East, 30°: about 4,820 kWh
- Gozo, optimal: about 5,870 kWh
A useful sanity check: Maltese domestic tariff bands run, including 5% VAT, at €0.1047/kWh to 2,000 kWh, €0.1298 to 6,000, €0.1607 to 10,000, €0.3420 to 20,000, and €0.6076 above that. A south-facing 3.5 kWp array generates roughly as much as a mid-sized household consumes in a year — but generation and consumption do not coincide hour by hour. What you use at the moment it is produced displaces your top band, which is where the money is. What you do not use is exported.
Export is paid under the feed-in tariff: €0.15/kWh for 20 years for systems under 40 kWp on the grant-free route. The grant-assisted rate was €0.105/kWh in 2025; the 2026 rate is unconfirmed. The 2026 REWS RES grant closed to applications on 12 September 2026, with battery options closing 13 July 2026; a further round has been announced but not detailed. Anyone quoting you a specific future grant amount is guessing. Whether storing surplus beats exporting it at €0.15 is a separate calculation — the battery guide sets out the arithmetic, and there is no published Malta battery price to put into it.
Why "kWh per square metre" figures mislead
You will see Malta's solar resource quoted in kilowatt-hours per square metre. That is a measure of solar irradiation — the energy arriving on a surface. It is not electricity. A panel converts something on the order of a fifth of it, and then the system loses more between the array and the meter. Multiplying an irradiation figure by your roof area produces a number several times larger than anything a real installation will deliver, and such figures circulate on Maltese sites with no indication of which surface, which tilt or which dataset they refer to.
PVGIS does not publish a usable per-m² output figure for domestic PV because panel efficiency varies by model, and the number would be obsolete the moment the module changes. Work in kWh per kWp. If a quote gives you kWh per m², ask what the installed kWp is instead.
Checking a quote's yield claim
- Take the system size in kWp and the roof's azimuth and tilt from the quote. If the quote does not state azimuth and tilt, that is the first problem.
- Run the same configuration in PVGIS yourself, selecting PVGIS v5.3 and leaving system losses at 14%.
- Divide the quote's claimed annual kWh by the kWp. Compare that figure against the table above.
- If the quote's per-kWp figure exceeds 1,668 for Malta or 1,677 for Gozo at optimal tilt, ask what assumption produces it. There is no honest route to a higher number for a fixed array on these islands.
- If the roof has any shading at all, expect the real figure to sit below the PVGIS result, not on it.
Two Malta-specific points worth holding on to. First, rooftop PV is permitted development under Class 1(iv) of the Development Notification Order, S.L. 552.08, provided the installation is DC15-compliant — the planning question is usually not the obstacle. Second, if you are in an apartment or a maisonette, the condominium rules governing the common roof are.
Common questions
- How many kWh a year does a 3.5 kWp system produce in Malta?
- Using PVGIS v5.3 at 1,668 kWh/kWp for a south-facing array at 32°, a 3.5 kWp system models at about 5,840 kWh a year. On a flat roof at 1,476 kWh/kWp it is about 5,170 kWh; facing east at 30° about 4,820 kWh; facing west at 30° about 4,880 kWh. In Gozo at the optimal tilt, 1,677 kWh/kWp gives about 5,870 kWh.
- Does Gozo get more sun than Malta?
- Marginally. PVGIS v5.3 returns 1,677 kWh/kWp/yr at optimal tilt for Gozo against 1,668 for Malta — about half a per cent. It is not a reason to choose or reject a system, and it is far smaller than the difference orientation makes.
- Is a flat roof worth doing, or do panels have to be tilted?
- Panels laid flat model at 1,476 kWh/kWp/yr, about 11% below south at 32°. Most flat Maltese roofs are fitted with tilted frames anyway, which recovers that gap, but frames need spacing to avoid self-shading and add wind loading, so the usable kWp on a given roof may fall.
- What is the 14% loss figure in a PVGIS result?
- It is PVGIS's default catch-all for system losses between the panels and the meter — cabling, inverter conversion, soiling and mismatch between modules. It does not account for shading from a neighbouring block, a water tank or a washing line, and it does not model panel ageing. Those are site-specific and have to be assessed on the roof.
- Do I need planning permission for rooftop panels?
- Rooftop PV is permitted development under Class 1(iv) of the Development Notification Order, S.L. 552.08, provided the installation complies with DC15. Apartment and maisonette owners are also bound by the condominium rules governing use of the common roof, which is a separate question from planning.
- What do I get paid for electricity I export?
- The grant-free feed-in tariff is €0.15/kWh for 20 years for systems under 40 kWp. The grant-assisted rate was €0.105/kWh in 2025; the 2026 rate is unconfirmed. The 2026 REWS RES grant closed to applications on 12 September 2026 (battery options closed 13 July 2026) and a further round has been announced but not detailed.
What we could not establish
- Neither source gives an output figure per square metre of panel, and PVGIS does not work in those units — any kWh/m² number circulating online is almost certainly irradiation on a surface, not electricity delivered by a module.
- The NSO page for 2025 was seen in search results only at the time of writing; the 3.5 kWp average domestic system size and the 268,016.5 kWp national total should be checked against the published release before being relied on.
- PVGIS models an unshaded plane. There is no public Maltese dataset comparing predicted PVGIS yields against metered output from real installed systems, so the size of the typical real-world gap is not established.
- Neither source establishes a panel degradation rate, so no year-20 output figure is given here.
- There is no neutral published 2026 installed price per kWp for Malta, and no published Malta battery price, so cost per generated kWh cannot be calculated from these sources.
- PVGIS runs recorded here cover south at 30° and 32°, flat, and east and west at 30°. Intermediate azimuths — south-east, south-west — are not in this set and need to be run individually.
Sources
- PVGIS v5.3 PVcalc (SARAH3, 14% losses) — European Commission Joint Research Centre · read 2026-10-16
- Renewable energy from photovoltaic panels (PVs): 2025 — National Statistics Office Malta · read 2026-10-16
Drafted with Claude — claude-opus-5, then read, corrected and approved by Neil Bennett before publication. We do not publish anything a person has not read.
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