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.

    • Carl [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      6 days ago

      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.

    • SootySootySoot [any]@hexbear.net
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      5 days ago

      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