Anyone for Balcony Solar Power?

Coming soon (perhaps): an out-of-the-box product for generating your own electricity

Solar power. I’d like to have it, you say, but – it’s too expensive. It’s too much of a project to get permitted and built and tied into the grid. Besides, the tax credits are expiring.

Or you live in an apartment, you say, so there are no opportunities to install a system.

Ah, but wait. An elegant workaround may be coming.

How about portable solar?

How about out-of-the-box panels that you can hang from an apartment balcony, or set up on a porch or on a deck or in a small yard? Systems that simply plug into a standard electrical outlet (or, perhaps, into a battery storage system) and -- on a small scale and intermittent basis -- generate power for your own use?

Such devices have caught on in Europe (Germany in particular). But here in the U.S., there are a number of issues that must be resolved in order to permit widespread adoption. These include establishment of product uniformity standards, compliance with electrical codes, interconnection rules, harmonization of state and local regulations, and industry buy-in.

Here’s hoping. Let’s all become advocates for – and, as we are able, users of – portable solar generation!

Background:

https://solartechonline.com/blog/solar-panels-apartment-balcony-guide/

https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/balcony-solar-plug-in-systems-home/

https://www.theenergymix.com/solar-panels-that-fit-on-your-balcony-or-deck-are-gaining-traction-in-the-u-s/

Photo credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/2023-05-05_Sogenanntes_Balkonkraftwerk%2C_eine_Mini-PV-Anlage%2C_in_Tauberbischofsheim_01.jpg