July 2026 was another beautiful summer month with lots of sun, wonderfully warm temperatures and so little rain that it's starting to become worrying. Fortunately, we in the Netherlands did not suffer as much from the drought as Southern Europe with all those forest fires, but the fact that the climate has now noticeably changed can only be denied by the most stubborn climate skeptic. For clarity, let's once again state three evident facts:

• Yes, the climate is changing and the consequences are dramatic
• Yes, we know what causes it and what we can do about it
• Yes, we have all the necessary technology to stop it

The fact that not enough is being done to stop the climate crisis is therefore solely a matter of unwillingness. Fortunately, as a solar panel owner, you are part of the solution and you're showing your fellow human beings what needs to be done: Bravo!

Home Batteries Pay Off

Not only your conscience but also your wallet was once again happy with your decision to get solar panels installed, because with 279 hours of sun compared to 222 on average, it was a month with high yield. If you would have put that energy in your batteries to feed it back to the grid later in the evening, and assuming you had a dynamic energy contract, you could have earned quite some extra money. There was once again a considerable difference in electricity prices between noon and evening in July, especially on warm days like July 29 (41 cent difference!) We've been looking into the workings of the new SMA Energy Maximizer (the automatic function to trade on the market with batteries) and we can see that it has proven its usefulness this month!

There were quite big regional differences: In the North, the sun shone for 220 hours according to KNMI, which was actually average, but in the Southwest, on the other hand, there were 100 hours more direct sunlight than normal.

Two Downsides

The only negative aspects for the solar panels were the relatively high temperatures (because: solar panels produce better when they are cool) and the lack of precipitation, which causes dust and dirt to remain on the panels. But with so much sun, that doesn't really matter much at the moment.

Unfortunately, there won't be much precipitation in the near future either, only more sun and warmth. Nice for the summer vacation, but bad for food production and for water transport (and for the coal and nuclear power plants!). Let's enjoy it anyway, because soon it will be autumn and then we'll be looking back longingly at this period with warmth and lots and lots of free electricity from the panels!