this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2024
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[–] DrunkEngineer@lemmy.world 52 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Not mentioned in the article is that these systems are still illegal in the US.

[–] Dran_Arcana@lemmy.world 21 points 3 months ago (4 children)

do you know why they're illegal? is there some danger to them?

[–] TitanLaGrange@lemmy.world 26 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

FTA:

The so-called plug-in systems involve routing the direct current generated by the panels to an inverter, which converts it to an alternating current. They can then be plugged into a conventional wall socket to feed power to a home.

So, yeah, almost certainly illegal in pretty much any grid-powered home in the US.

The basic problem is that if the grid power goes down the inverter can back-feed the grid enough to electrocute the people who are working to fix it.

Utilities require an approved isolation system of some kind that prevents that happening. They are pretty strict about this for various other technical and political reasons too, but evidently it is mostly a safety concern.

I've got some good locations at home for panels, and about 500W in panels that I use for camping, but the equipment I'd need to handle easily and safely consuming the power at home is kind of expensive (just running an inverter and a battery for an isolated system is easy enough, I've got all that, but it's not cheap to seamlessly connect it to my home power system). Would love to have a safe and approved system like what is described in the article.

[–] BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 29 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Houses in Europe are connected to the grid too.

These systems are approved in Europe by utilities because they have failsafes implemented to prevent back feeding electricity in the grid.

The fact that these systems are still illegal in the US is a political issue, not a technical one.

[–] turmacar@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

[European utilities] have failsafes implemented to prevent back feeding electricity in the grid

Yeah but imagine if you could save money by not doing that? What are the odds that there's going to be cheap(er) personal mass power generation in the next few decades.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

While it seems like they’d have to, the article makes no mention of such a fail safe. What does it do and how could it work?

[–] bestagon@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

From what it sounds like, the safety is in the device not the grid. In case you haven’t noticed, there is a far lesser sense of personal responsibility to those around you in the US than Europe and I don’t know that I’d trust that nobody over here would fudge some bypass to power their house in an outage

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

These systems are approved in Europe by utilities because they have failsafes implemented to prevent back feeding electricity in the grid.

Sounds like Big Government Regulation of my God Damned Rights to do something on my house as I see fit! Europe's full o' damn communists and their stupid sun grabbin' electro-gibbits. That's why they'll never be the Greatest Bestest Country on da face a dis here Earf.

[–] 31ank@ani.social 15 points 3 months ago

Balcony solars are not able to back feed since they need the grid to synchronize, if you want one that is able to work in "island mode" you still need approval from the grid provider/one that isnt connected with the schuko connector.

[–] SkavarSharraddas@gehirneimer.de 19 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Individuals owning their own means of energy production is obviously unamerican.

[–] ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 6 points 3 months ago

It's a feature of capitalism!

[–] jaemo@sh.itjust.works 14 points 3 months ago

They are VERY DANGEROUS to conservatives and the flawed ideological rafts they're still clinging to.

[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Are they Chinese solar panels or good ol' American products?

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago

They're from the Evil Bad Country That Does the Genocides. So... uh... idk.

[–] where_am_i@sh.itjust.works 21 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Not everything in the world should be revolving around your stupid default country

[–] entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org 55 points 3 months ago

This article is from the New York Times, a prominent US newspaper which writes primarily for a US audience. It's relevant for them to bring it up.

[–] ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 5 points 3 months ago

As a person from Default Country, I love this statement and I want it on a shirt.

[–] Leg@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 months ago

I hate this stupid country as much as the next guy, but I still want to know if there's anything I'm allowed to do that might be good for the planet. Now I know I'm not allowed to do this because my stupid fucking country doesn't allow it, which is usable information.

[–] Zahille7@lemmy.world 10 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world -1 points 3 months ago

Largely illegal by way of import. The Americans don't want cheap foreign panels dominating their still-nascent domestic solar industry.