this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2026
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Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them (www.kuow.org)
submitted 3 days ago by grimpy@lemmy.myserv.one to c/solarpunk@slrpnk.net
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“Easy-to-install solar panels that plug into a regular outlet are getting attention just as Americans are worried about rising energy costs. That's because these plug-in or balcony solar panels start shaving off part of a homeowner's or renter's utility bill right away.

"”A year ago, nobody was talking about this," says Cora Stryker, co-founder of Bright Saver, a California nonprofit group that advocates for plug-in solar. The panels are already popular in Germany, where more than 1.2 million of the small plug-in systems are registered with the German government.”

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[–] theparadox@lemmy.world 37 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Articles like this are what make me hate where we are as a society right now.

Are utilities trying to delay them or is the industry that makes these panels paying "news" sources to write articles to help ram the products through and bypass the standard approval process that makes sure they are safe? Maybe a bit of both.

Was this written by a human or an LLM? Is my distrust of everything I read a side effect of the corruption rampant in our system or is it the goal? Maybe a bit of both.

Edit: I see they are part of the NPR network, so maybe more believable and less likely to be slop.

[–] ravenaspiring@sh.itjust.works 13 points 3 days ago

Yea, the cognitive load required to evaluate and engage both on the article, as well as politically is so high that ignorance and a shrug seems normal.

I am not sure that a commune in the boonies is the answer, but it certainly seems more appealing then the total system collapse we seem to be apart of lately.

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago

German utilities expressed many of the same concerns nearly a decade ago when plug-in solar started to become popular in Germany. But with more than a million systems installed, no safety incidents have been reported for customers who used the panels as instructed, according to a research paper funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

So basically, two responses:

  1. So it's no fucking problem then.
  2. Okay, okay, we're talking Americans....... it'll be a problem, then. :)
[–] RIotingPacifist@lemmy.world 18 points 3 days ago

We should also use public banking to allow apartment complexes (regardless of ownership)'where the majority want regular solar to have it installed and paid back as a cut of the solar savings.

[–] p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Easy-to-use solar panels aren't coming... they are here now.

Stop fucking pretending this is some Star Wars future that requires a degree in quantum physics. Be the solution.

[–] AmbitiousProcess@piefed.social 14 points 3 days ago (3 children)

This is genuinely so fucking cool. I had never even considered that you could just plug a solar panel into a regular outlet and it wouldn't like, somehow completely wreck your electrical system or something.

As someone who probably won't own my home soon, if ever, if I end up living in an apartment where I owe money for the electricity I use rather than it being an inclusive bundle with the rent, it could be genuinely really cool to just have a solar panel or two I can hang off a balcony, offset some of my electricity cost, but still be able to take it with me whenever I inevitably have to move out because the landlord decides he's gonna try to squeeze me for more rent.

[–] Barbarian@sh.itjust.works 19 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

It's not "just" a solar panel, to be legally compliant in Germany. The part you plug in is basically a control unit. They aren't super big and complex, but they need to be able to do 2 things:

  1. Detect if there's a live circuit, and not transmit any power if not. This is because sometimes electricity is turned off for maintenance. You don't want an electrician dying because a line they turned off is actually live due to someone having this plugged in.

  2. Power limiter, similar in function to a circuit breaker. This prevents overcurrents happening in your walls and starting a fire. Because all of this is happening after a house's breaker box, they won't flip if the combined grid + solar current is too high, so the solar unit's control unit has to be able to deal with it.

Disclaimer: I'm a layman, not an electrician. Just read into the tech because it's interesting to me.

[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago
  1. Detect and provide that AC power in phase with the grid power
[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 3 points 2 days ago

Thanks for the info, these were exactly the questions I had!

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 10 points 3 days ago

Indeed this is how most people in Germany are using them. As long as it is a relatively small system and the house has semi-modern cabling it isn't a big deal at all and works fine.

[–] chaogomu@lemmy.world -1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Plugging a power producer into an outlet does sound like a fast way to light your house on fire.

Or, if you touch the death prongs, death.

But maybe it would work. I'd not trust it, especially not in older houses.

[–] momar@layer8.space 5 points 3 days ago

@chaogomu @AmbitiousProcess That's quite usual for example in Germany now & there are good regulations for these products. They only work when there is grid power coming from the outlet as well, and they are limited in output power, to avoid both the fire and shock hazards.

[–] FaygoRedPop@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

You can buy the kit for $2,500. Using my rates and usage, it's still not worth it.

Monthly savings

$21.25

89 kWh offset

New est. bill $90.01 down from $111.26

Annual savings $255 per year

9.8 yrs to break even

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

What size of unit did you calculate with? Typically the ones sold in Europe are below 1000€, some even as cheap as 600€.

[–] FaygoRedPop@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 8 points 3 days ago

You can probably order one for half the price 🤷

[–] derek@social.coop 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

@FaygoRedPop That sounds about the same break-even rate I calculated for my rooftop solar.

[–] Dr_Del_Fuego@slrpnk.net 8 points 3 days ago

And for someone renting it's that or nothing, so 10 years to break even vs never breaking even seems like a decent deal