> So far, utilities have won over lawmakers in five states and convinced them to delay votes on plug-in solar bills
They'll change their mind once so many people use panels without permit that they cause difficulties with grid stability due to the unregistered solar panels making it less predictable. That was a reason they massively loosened the requirements where I live.
Originally it was required to collect a signature from every tenant living in the building in order to be permitted to install a plug-in solar panel. As a result people living in rented apartments just did it without asking, but that meant more energy generation that the supplier doesn't know about which supposedly made it more difficult to manage the grid. So they decided to instead flip it around so anyone opposing installation of a panel has to submit a written statement.
They're going to want to know about panels being installed, and regardless of whether the regulation says they can be installed, they will be, so the regulation will tend towards allowing installation but at least encouraging reporting it (while regulation that forbids installation will mainly just discourage reporting).
I love the small effects, but this is actually less efficient in the large. A power grid still has to exist, and that means transformers blow and trees knock down wires, and you are going to be billed for that. It's not that different from using a septic tank to get off the sewage grid; you might not appreciate when your neighbors all do it too.
Eh? what's the downside if lots of people install small solar installations like this? it drops the grid load by a small amount, and saves the owner a few dollars. Which seems useful to me in general as a nice to have.
The only real downside is that it decreases the amount of control that your power company has over your local grid, which doesn't sound like a downside until there is an electrical emergency and unregulated solar starts dumping into the grid and puts line workers at risk.
At the same time, it is a fairly small downside when 1 person does it, but the effects increase quite a bit when everyone does it.
This won't simply dump power into the grid (unless the used inverter would violate codes right and left), since those inverters need to sync to the grid first before allowing for any output.
So if the grid is down - nothing will happen.
You're talking about islanding protections to protect lineworkers? German regulations require them. AFAICT The NPR article points out that the UL Solutions certification will cover exactly this.
> So far, utilities have won over lawmakers in five states and convinced them to delay votes on plug-in solar bills
They'll change their mind once so many people use panels without permit that they cause difficulties with grid stability due to the unregistered solar panels making it less predictable. That was a reason they massively loosened the requirements where I live.
can you expand on that?
Originally it was required to collect a signature from every tenant living in the building in order to be permitted to install a plug-in solar panel. As a result people living in rented apartments just did it without asking, but that meant more energy generation that the supplier doesn't know about which supposedly made it more difficult to manage the grid. So they decided to instead flip it around so anyone opposing installation of a panel has to submit a written statement.
I see! So you're saying the opposite of what I thought. They're going to WANT regulation in the long term!
They're going to want to know about panels being installed, and regardless of whether the regulation says they can be installed, they will be, so the regulation will tend towards allowing installation but at least encouraging reporting it (while regulation that forbids installation will mainly just discourage reporting).
I love the small effects, but this is actually less efficient in the large. A power grid still has to exist, and that means transformers blow and trees knock down wires, and you are going to be billed for that. It's not that different from using a septic tank to get off the sewage grid; you might not appreciate when your neighbors all do it too.
Eh? what's the downside if lots of people install small solar installations like this? it drops the grid load by a small amount, and saves the owner a few dollars. Which seems useful to me in general as a nice to have.
The only real downside is that it decreases the amount of control that your power company has over your local grid, which doesn't sound like a downside until there is an electrical emergency and unregulated solar starts dumping into the grid and puts line workers at risk.
At the same time, it is a fairly small downside when 1 person does it, but the effects increase quite a bit when everyone does it.
Just about anywhere where these are legal, they're required to stop generating electricity if the grid goes down.
This won't simply dump power into the grid (unless the used inverter would violate codes right and left), since those inverters need to sync to the grid first before allowing for any output. So if the grid is down - nothing will happen.
You're talking about islanding protections to protect lineworkers? German regulations require them. AFAICT The NPR article points out that the UL Solutions certification will cover exactly this.
These are nice, but there is a risk if multiple units are plugged into an extension strip with a cord that is not large enough for the current.
No doubt the utilities are concerned about safety, the safety of their revenue stream.
I found it very difficult to find ANY information on google about US plug-in solar a few months ago.
https://solarunitedneighbors.org/resources/what-to-know-abou...
https://www.brightsaver.org/
https://www.brightsaver.org/publicly-filed-states
"utilities trying to delay them"
what a bunch of clickbaity bullshit.
Also, from the article:
> And since the bills require UL Solutions certification, manufacturers will have to get their products through that process.
God forbid we have products that don't electrocute the people buying them.
Oh and don't forget to Google inverter vs rotational grid stability.
What a bunch of nonsense.