More than one million Germans have installed affordable plug-in balcony solar panels, turning apartments into small-scale clean energy producers. Costing around $235, these easy-to-use systems are helping households cut electricity bills while accelerating Germany’s transition to renewable energy.
Some day, the cowardly legislators in my state will make it legal for me to plug my own solar panels into the wall.
So where can I actually buy something like this that plugs into a North American outlet? Let’s just say I’m not interested in going through a state-approved dealer, but it’s definitely legal in my area.
here is a ready made kit, but if you put together your own panels, cables, charge controller, battery, and micro inverter, you could get one up for cheaper. The amount you’ll actually save from this kind of setup is highly questionable, though.
AHAHAHAHA WHAT? it’s $1500?
No, I meant like, where can I pay under $300 for a setup?
you would have to look at used setups in your area. a single panel, controller, and inverter (which appears to be the “balcony solar” setup discussed in the article, as opposed to mine which sits on a big rack in my yard) might be able to come down to $300 but you’d have to search. I built my own 400w setup for about $1k but that was years ago and the prices have gone up.
What do you mean prices have gone up? It’s like 50€ per 100W on AliExpress are prices that different in NA?
okay I realized after posting that the panels I linked were 800w, not 400w, so my estimation was off prices are indeed down even on amazon
Do you think the prices will continue to increase even after sodium ion batteries start mass production this year? I’m like 50/50 on this.
That does seem ludicrously high. The first result when I look for an equivalent setup here in the UK on Amazon is about 600 dollars for an ostensibly 800W kit. US needs slightly different electronics specs but that’s not a huge thing, and surely even the biggest import fees to the US wouldn’t be 900 dollars??? Is this like a chinese trade restriction thing
I’m also in Canada which tends to make things more expensive, plus our dollars are worth less than a USD. But yeah, the math ain’t mathing.
They are illegal where I live. Apparently they are “dangerous” and only licensed professionals are allowed to connect solar panels to the grid.
Are German utility companies state owned? In the US, any power you generate locally (ie: house-mounted solar panel) can only be sold back to the utility company. You cannot power your own home with your own solar power. Unless you electrician-level do it diy like Carl mentions below.
Hell will freeze over before US politicians advocate for the average citizen over the utility monopoly
no Taobao link???
This seems very good. Good for germans.
It arrived in south Europe and north Africa too? Places with a lot of sun may have almost zero cost for energy
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
