In 2026 there is no direct grant left for residential solar panels in Wallonia or Flanders. Brussels is the only region still issuing green certificates for new installations. Viability therefore no longer rests on subsidy but on a single variable: self-consumption. What you consume yourself is worth the full retail price of electricity; what you export is worth almost nothing.
The end of an era: no grant, no spinning meter
Belgian solar lived for fifteen years on public support. That period is over, and it is better said plainly than leaving people to believe in help that no longer exists.
In Wallonia, everything was dismantled in stages: first the Qualiwatt grant, then green certificates for new residential installations, and finally the prosumer tariff compensation and the dual-flow meter grant — the last two at the end of 2023. Installations commissioned before 31 December 2023 keep their acquired rights; new ones get nothing.
In Flanders, the reverse-spinning meter disappeared for good with the rollout of the digital meter. Exported electricity is bought at market price, far below the purchase price, and the capacity tariff additionally charges for peaks in power drawn.
Only Brussels maintains a support mechanism: green certificates are still granted to new installations, with a market value around €90 per certificate in 2026. That is currently the most favourable regime in the country for new residential systems.
The prosumer tariff, the line nobody reads
In Wallonia, every panel owner pays an annual charge tied to grid use: the prosumer tariff. It is calculated per electrical kilowatt of inverter capacity, not on what you produce.
⚠️ A fixed cost, not a variable one. At the main Walloon grid operator, the prosumer tariff sits around €87 per kWe per year in 2026 — roughly €435 a year for a 5 kWe system. The amount differs between grid operators and is revised periodically: check the applicable tariff with your operator before sizing the installation. Practical consequence: oversizing "to be safe" costs money every year and returns nothing.
Self-consumption, the only variable that still counts
The reasoning has become simple. A kWh you use at the moment your panels produce it saves you buying a kWh at full retail price, taxes and grid fees included. A kWh exported to the grid earns you the wholesale price, several times lower. The entire payback lies in that gap.
Hence four concrete levers:
- Shift big loads to daytime — washing machine, dishwasher and dryer programmed between 11am and 4pm.
- Heat water with the sun — a heat pump water heater driven by surplus is the best "storage" available: it turns the excess into hot water instead of dumping it.
- Charge the car at home — a home charging point steered by solar surplus is the most profitable complement to a system.
- Size it right — target your actual consumption rather than your available roof area. In Wallonia the prosumer tariff punishes oversizing directly.
The home battery follows the same logic, but with a high entry cost and no grant: we cover it in a dedicated article.
Financing has replaced the grant
The regions have not cut all support: they moved it from subsidy to credit. Less generous, but still a real lever on a €6,000 to €10,000 investment.
In Flanders, Mijn VerbouwLening was tightened on 1 January 2026: minimum amount of €4,000, building connected to the electricity grid before 1 January 2006, and no other home held in full ownership. Rates depend on income category: 0% in category 4, 0.5% in category 3, 1.5% in category 2.
Verdict: is it still worth it?
Yes, but for different reasons than before. Installation prices have fallen sharply over ten years, which largely offsets the disappearance of grants. The difference is that payback no longer arrives on its own: you build it through your self-consumption rate.
The right profile: a household at home during the day (remote work, young children, retirement), heating water electrically or driving an electric car, with a properly oriented roof. There, self-consumption climbs naturally and the system pays for itself.
The wrong profile: a household out all day, with no electric water heater and no electric car, installing 8 kWe "because the roof is big". Production goes to the grid at a low price, and in Wallonia the prosumer tariff is charged every year on installed capacity.
The right order: insulate first, generate second. Putting panels on an uninsulated roof means financing your production before cutting your consumption — and often having to remove the panels later to insulate properly.