In countries like Germany, balcony-mounted solar panels are all the rage. But from breaker-masking to voltage mismatches, America’s grid isn’t ready for it—yet.
Outlets dont really have an orientation. Shouldnt matter which direction the power is flowing as long as you dont exceed 80% the rating of the lowest denominator of the circuit. 800 watts shouldn’t really hurt any circuits, even the 10amp ones which is about the smallest I think I’ve ever seen here.
Backfeeding is only illegal in the sense of safety requirements to my knowledge. These panels dont feed when grid is off (embedded ATS). Which satisfies safety (UL would just need to approve, but likely wouldn’t until the last item below is addressed). At just 800 watts… I doubt you’d ever backfeed anyway. And if you do, good luck collecting any money for it. But to that point, I backfeed 15kW batteries during peak hours. Above and beyond my solar setup… they can’t really say anything about it. But I go full island when grid is down, which sadly happens often even though I’m in a major metro area.
Lower cost of energy does make it a harder sell overall but that wasn’t really the question. These panels are also significantly cheaper since you dont need to pay install fees and such. The equation is a bit different.
The only real hiccup is the nature of our phased systems here… a solar panel in a single outlet will only feed one phase.That’s a problem. One that probably makes it a nonstarter as people simply wont install 240v outlets on their patios/balconies. But I don’t think Ive seen a law that says backfeed illegal, but illegal to cause safety issues on dead grid (eg. you must have an ATS or main service lockout). Do you have a source on illegality outside ot ATS/lockout requirement?
Outlets dont really have an orientation. Shouldnt matter which direction the power is flowing as long as you dont exceed 80% the rating of the lowest denominator of the circuit. 800 watts shouldn’t really hurt any circuits, even the 10amp ones which is about the smallest I think I’ve ever seen here.
Backfeeding is only illegal in the sense of safety requirements to my knowledge. These panels dont feed when grid is off (embedded ATS). Which satisfies safety (UL would just need to approve, but likely wouldn’t until the last item below is addressed). At just 800 watts… I doubt you’d ever backfeed anyway. And if you do, good luck collecting any money for it. But to that point, I backfeed 15kW batteries during peak hours. Above and beyond my solar setup… they can’t really say anything about it. But I go full island when grid is down, which sadly happens often even though I’m in a major metro area.
Lower cost of energy does make it a harder sell overall but that wasn’t really the question. These panels are also significantly cheaper since you dont need to pay install fees and such. The equation is a bit different.
The only real hiccup is the nature of our phased systems here… a solar panel in a single outlet will only feed one phase.That’s a problem. One that probably makes it a nonstarter as people simply wont install 240v outlets on their patios/balconies. But I don’t think Ive seen a law that says backfeed illegal, but illegal to cause safety issues on dead grid (eg. you must have an ATS or main service lockout). Do you have a source on illegality outside ot ATS/lockout requirement?