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I just found out about "balcony solar" which is, by and large, illegal in the US

Mini plug-in solar panels: Are they worth it? – DW – 09/11/2023

https://web.archive.org/web/20240124120822/https://www.dw.com/en/mini-plug-in-solar-panels-are-they-worth-it/a-66240262

Balcony solar systems are booming across Germany. Generating electricity can save money and get people interested in green energy, say experts. But do the systems pay off for everyone?

Mini plug-in solar panels: Are they worth it? – DW – 09/11/2023

Apparently this is all the rage in Germany (and China) where you can buy a kit at the supermarket for 500-600EUR and then you simply hang the solar panels over your balcony and plug them in to a wall outlet to reduce your net usage.

I was trying to do research on why we don't have this in the US and it doesn't seem like there are any particularly good reasons for it other than sclerotic response to "new" technology.

Seems like an incredibly cool idea to make apartment dwelling even more sustainable.

non-archive link: https://www.dw.com/en/mini-plug-in-solar-panels-are-they-worth-it/a-66240262

9 comments

The_Walkening

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plug them in to a wall outlet to reduce your net usage.

Yeah I think that's why they're illegal in the U.S. The electrical systems for a lot of homes are old as hell and this can start a fire. It happens all the time with people using generators and male-to-male power cords and plugging into the wall to feed back the power to the electrical circuit

regul

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In theory shouldn't a smart enough inverter be able to handle this well (to be clear, the German models come with an inverter)? Surely Germany has plenty of old wiring as well.

The_Walkening

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Maybe (I am not an electrician) but it's also sort of a fire/shock hazard to have a device putting out electricity that has a male plug.

The plugs in Germany/other countries might have a better design when it comes to that, the ground connection is on the sides rather than directly across from the positive connection so it's a little less likely to short stuff out if it just falls out of the receptacle.

regul

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If the (smart) inverter is on the line that connects into the wall outlet it could easily stop the flow in the event that it doesn't detect anything from the grid across its terminals. I expect this is a solved problem, but like I said, I just found out about this tech.

Count042

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No, the problem isn't the local house wiring.

The problem is back-feeding power to the power lines without a power lock-out device.

You don't want to kill a power line worker trying to get your power back online.

kusuriya

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you will find through most of the US and Canada sane city planning and design is illegal. Like many areas in the US have mandatory set backs that place housing far from where sidewalks would be then ban mixed use neighborhoods which creates that massive suburban sprawl of cookie cutter houses everyone except HOA Karens/Kevins complain about

voight

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Most states if you can actually set up solar panels you get charged for it for grid hookup

henfredemars

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I've also looked at this and was quite disappointed at the complete lack of support available.

lntl

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They're illegal because terrorists use these to make children get autism

Patriots burn natural gas.