A Furo alternative for European battery studies
If Furo doesn't fit your sites or your budget: what Zorowatt does differently, what it costs per year and how to move a site over.
Furo (formerly Lumera Energy, Munich) is web software for planning commercial and industrial batteries in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Spain: upload a load profile, get the optimal size, the use cases and customer-ready documents. Since May 2026 it also operates and trades larger systems. Zorowatt is planning only, covers the Netherlands, Germany and Romania in depth, and publishes its prices. (furoenergy.com)
Five reasons consultants pick it.
- 01
The bill is checked against the invoices
Zorowatt rebuilds the bill from the meter data and sets it against each invoice, line by line, before it sizes anything. None of the tools we compared says it does this (checked 30 October 2026).
- 02
Dutch, German and Romanian tariffs, with sources
The 2026 tariffs of Liander, Stedin, Enexis, NEW Netz, Netze BW, RheinNetz and the Romanian ANRE zones are built in, each linked to its source. US tools leave European tariffs to you, in dollars.
- 03
Batteries from any maker
A database of 44 commercial products, every spec with its source. The free tools of Sungrow, SMA, Huawei and Victron size their own hardware only.
- 04
Prices on the page, from €0
A free analysis and free tools that need no account; Starter at €49 a month. Furo, Tibo, Gridcog and Energy Toolbase show no price before a call.
- 05
In the browser, in your language
A year of quarter-hours is simulated in about a second, with nothing to install, in English, Dutch, German and Romanian. HOMER, PVsyst and PV*SOL run on Windows.
Price per year
- Furo
- No published price; a subscription
- Zorowatt
- Starter €588 a year (€348 at the founding price) · Pro €1,788 a year for 3 seats · single analyses €15
As each vendor's page states it; prices in other currencies are not converted.
How to switch
Upload the same load profile you uploaded to Furo.
- Upload the site's meter data to the free data checker or the Workspace: every assumption made reading the file is listed.
- Pick the site's tariff and enter the invoices: the bill check shows whether the baseline matches before anything is sized.
- Size the battery, compare it with your earlier study, and send the client the PDF report.
- When to pick Furo
- Pick Furo if you sell in Germany, Austria, Switzerland or Spain and want planning and, for systems of 150 kW and more, real-time operation and trading from the same company.
- When to pick Zorowatt
- Pick Zorowatt if you also work in the Netherlands or Romania, want to see the price up front, and need the meter data checked and the bill rebuilt and set against the invoices before the battery is sized.
Facts about the other tool read on 2026-10-28 from the pages linked in each cell. Prices and features change; check the vendor's page before you rely on one.
| Feature | Zorowatt | Furo |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free €0 · Starter €49 / month · Pro €149 / month · Enterprise on request | No published price; "Try it free" on the site; a subscription model, according to its press releasefuroenergy.com, pes.eu.com · 2026-10-28 |
| Runs on | The browser; nothing to install | Web softwarepv-magazine.de · 2026-10-28 |
| Meter data import and checks | 15-minute or hourly data from CSV, Excel, German MSCONS or Green Button files, or a year of values with no dates; gaps, duplicates, daylight saving time and kW / kWh mix-ups flagged, never filled silently | Load-profile upload with the site's addressfuroenergy.com, pv-magazine.de · 2026-10-28 |
| Tariffs | Versioned 2026 tariffs, each with its source: Netherlands (Liander, Stedin, Enexis, plus the ACM 2028 draft as a scenario), Germany (NEW Netz, Netze BW, RheinNetz, levies and Stromsteuer), Romania (ANRE zones). Any other country: a generic template where you enter the rates | Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Spain; grid fees including the demand charge (Leistungspreis), high-load windows and power prices are enteredpes.eu.com, pv-magazine.de · 2026-10-28 |
| Battery dispatch | Rule-based, with the optimal (LP) dispatch as the upper bound; every saving is billed by the same bill engine | Optimal size and operating strategy; use cases self-consumption, dynamic tariffs, peak shaving and atypical grid use, with the revenue of eachfuroenergy.com, pv-magazine.de · 2026-10-28 |
| Solar | Planned solar modelled from PVGIS (EU Joint Research Centre) and laid on the meter data; existing PV is in the meter data (import and export) | Optional PV, as a yield profile or as parameterspv-magazine.de · 2026-10-28 |
| Battery products | A database of commercial and industrial products, every spec with its source | Installers store their own battery systems (depth of discharge, response time, cycle life, efficiency) and see which is closest to the optimumpv-magazine.de · 2026-10-28 |
| Financials | NPV, IRR and payback, with degradation | Economic viabilityfuroenergy.com · 2026-10-28 |
| Client report | PDF report for the client; white-label on Pro | Customer-ready documents generated automaticallyfuroenergy.com · 2026-10-28 |
| Battery operation | Planning only: no live battery control, no trading | Since May 2026: real-time optimisation and automated trading for systems of 150 kW and morepes.eu.com · 2026-10-28 |
| Try before buying | First site analysis free, no card | "Try it free"furoenergy.com · 2026-10-28 |
In short
Furo is the closest tool to Zorowatt, with a real installer base and the German use cases (peak shaving, dynamic tariffs, atypical grid use) built in. The differences are coverage, openness and scope: Zorowatt has Dutch and Romanian tariffs, a published price, a data check and a bill check against the invoices, and stays out of operating the battery. Choose by where your sites are and whether you want the planner and the operator to be the same company.
Try it on your own file first
Both tools run in the browser with no account; the file is not uploaded.
Meter data checker
Gaps, duplicates, daylight saving time, kW vs kWh and coverage in a meter export, before the study starts. No account, nothing uploaded.
Peak-shaving battery calculator
Battery size and payback for cutting a site's peak charges — from four numbers or your own load profile. No account, nothing uploaded.
Looking for a Furo alternative?
Zorowatt runs in the browser, reads the site's own meter data and rebuilds its bill before it sizes anything.
Switching?
Bring a site you already studied: upload its meter data and bills, and set the result next to your old one.