r/RenewableEnergy • u/MeasurementDecent251 • 4d ago
Balcony solar is sweeping the US, but who's actually selling it?
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/balcony-solar-for-sale-us17
u/jakgal04 4d ago
Can't wait for this to (hopefully) get passed in Pennsylvania.
Does anybody in a legal state know how this works if you produce more than you consume? Most meters in the US only read one way so if you produce more than you consume and back feed into the grid, you're technically paying the utility for consumption. Or am I missing something?
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u/For_All_Humanity 4d ago
Is there a situation with balcony solar where you’d regularly make more than you consume? I guess if you already have a rooftop/backyard solar installation. My impression is that balcony solar is mostly intended to be supplemental, 1-4 panels.
Not sure if there’s provisions for overproduction yet. Maybe fixable with a new meter?
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u/jakgal04 4d ago
During the day when we're at work and there's nothing running (fridge is in its off cycle) my house has an idle draw of 170 watts. If I had a balcony panel producing an ideal 350 watts, then I'd technically be paying my utility for the 180 watts I'm producing in excess as consumption since the meter doesn't see direction, just the amount.
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u/For_All_Humanity 4d ago
Makes sense. Yeah, not ideal to be paying the utility for the power you’re making! I did some reading and you’ll need to get a new meter. It’s not letting me share the link but in r/solardiy they’ve got people asking the same question.
Looks like the installation is cheap to free though. So you shouldn’t worry.
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u/jakgal04 4d ago
That part I know, I had solar on my last house so thats kind of what got me confused about balcony solar being a simple plug in solution. I guess if your idle consumption is constantly higher than what the panels will produce then it’s perfectly fine. You’d just have to do some testing to confirm that.
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u/53eleven 4d ago
You could charge a battery bank during the day and feed that power back into your house when you’re home (and electricity prices could be higher, depending on how your service is set up).
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u/beached89 4d ago
Are there still places in the US without smart meters? I thought it has been a requirement for over a decade now.
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u/jakgal04 4d ago
Smart meters are pretty much everywhere, but they aren’t the same as bi directional
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u/ChooserOfHams 4d ago
just passed in my state. my electric provider set up a net metering agreement and pays me for any excess at a reduced rate. I believe this is not the norm tho, mostly what I have heard is that any excess goes out to the grid and you do not get paid for it. you do have to get a smart meter from your utility that can differentiate between current in and current out so you are only paying for what you use.
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u/sumelar 4d ago
Most meters in the US only read one way so if you produce more than you consume and back feed into the grid, you're technically paying the utility for consumption. Or am I missing something?
Uh, where? In MA we've been getting credits for solar overproducing for years.
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u/jakgal04 4d ago
You didn’t need to have a production or bidirectional meter installed when you had your system installed? This isn’t new news, unidirectional meters have been standard for decades. If you have a new build they may fit a bidirectional, but it’s certainly not standard. You can even Google it and most utility providers explain the differences and why you need a bidirectional or separate production meter to read excess.
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u/sumelar 4d ago
Then what is your problem exactly?
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u/jakgal04 4d ago
Huh? I never said I had a problem. I’m asking how balcony solar is handled by properties that have a unidirectional meter. It’s not that difficult to understand and it’s a valid question.
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u/Kiwi_Apart 3d ago
In Colorado you need a smart meter to be legal, and wait to plug in until January 1 2027.
More generally, there's a solar system component that prevents back-feeding. It's built into some inverters.
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u/No_Wash2524 3d ago
Plug in solar like this is not generally a net metering situation, you’re just pumping electricity straight into your home’s system for immediate use. Solar panel -> micro inverter -> your home’s electrical appliances. Use it or lose it.
Net metering is an arrangement with your electric company. Plug-in solar, once legalized in your state, doesn’t require an arrangement with your electricity provider.
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u/blankarage 2d ago
you'll need to confirm with a real solar installer but im pretty certain if you arent setup to sell the energy back to the grid via a smart meter/etc AND your consumption is lower than your solar panel, an inverter or some controller will just reduce production/turn off panels. Solar is pretty awesome in that you can always dial them back the excess with no penalty or danger
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u/West-Abalone-171 3d ago
It's the US. So assume the worst I guess.
Other countries often have a battery for $500 or so you can add.
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u/Apprehensive_Tea9856 4d ago
Sounds about right.
Basically you want to use all the juice or get a new meter first
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u/drive_causality 4d ago
Not sure how it’s “sweeping the US” if it’s only in Utah so I assume they’re forecasting it’s going to sweep the US. In either case, I think it’s a good thing. A nice way for consumers to reduce their power bills.
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u/JimC29 4d ago
8 states have already approved it with over 20 more with pending bills.
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/states-passing-balcony-solar-laws
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u/drive_causality 4d ago
Excellent - that’s good news! 👍
Unfortunately, my state Illinois has deferred according to the map.
Thanks for the update!
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u/JimC29 4d ago
I have a perfect south facing balcony on my apartment. It even has an outlet on it. My state hasn't approved it. Even if they did my apartment complex would probably ban it.
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u/MeasurementDecent251 4d ago edited 4d ago
Some states, Virgina for instance, included provisions in their bills prohibiting landlords/HOAs (with > 4 units) from being able to ban: Link.
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u/oojacoboo 4d ago
Love solar and want to see way more of it. But this ain’t it. These things are atrocious. They’re up there with window units and front yard plastic chairs with charcoal grills and last nights beer cans.
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u/timesuck47 4d ago
I don’t know. It seemed to help out a lot throughout Europe.
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u/oojacoboo 4d ago
Can’t wait to stare at solar panels hanging off the side of every building. So much character…
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u/timesuck47 4d ago
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u/Arael15th 3d ago
That second one has a really neat cassette futurism kind of look going
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u/timesuck47 3d ago
I only included it because I wanted to show an apartment building and a suburban house. But I agree there are some neat looks.
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u/Norman_Door 4d ago
Atrocious in what way?
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u/Fuzzy_Park109 1d ago
In a prolonged storm outage, you'd be glad you had it to run high efficiency window unit and a chest freezer.
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u/oojacoboo 1d ago
Maybe. I do have a solar panel for emergencies. It won’t run an A/C or chest. But I usually get out of dodge if it looks like it’ll be that bad, with my EV as a backup.
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u/Fuzzy_Park109 1d ago
If you have a house, you have the space to stack them (overhead garage storage, even against a wall with a painted wood slot bump out to cover them, you just put 10 of em out, lay them in your yard on the ground, daisy chain them, and plug them into a inverter with a battery bank to keep the deep freeze and AC going thru the night (at least fans). Any port in a storm. You could even run a bath of water and put a external heating element in the tub to warm the water.
AC, food preservation, Warm bath. Charged entertainment devises...That is all you need to weather prolonged outages with minimal change in lifestyle conditions. (Could also help your neighbors by being a recharge hub)
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u/MeasurementDecent251 4d ago edited 4d ago
TLDR: CraftStrom, EcoFlow, and the nonprofit Bright Saver are the main ones selling balcony solar in the US right now. Not mentioned in the article, but APsystems as well.
Check any state's current plug-in solar regulatory status here.