Utah lawmakers unanimously approve German-style balcony solar
Power To The People: Plug-In Solar Now Legal In Utah Homes - CleanTechnica
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/28050247
Up to 1200w can be back-fed into the 120v sockets in normal homes. No net metering or other permission required, as long as it meets UL/NEC standards.
I live in Utah. This sounds really exciting on the surface but in practice I've never seen an apartment lease which didn't explicitly prohibit this sort of thing. So this mostly opens doors for homeowners who probably aren't nearly as interested. Still cool, I just wish it meant I could put solar on my balcony.
The German law has a passage which allows you to install it, no matter what your landlord thinks. Maybe that's in Utah's law, too...?
Just glanced over the bill and it only permits what would previously have been prohibited. Unfortunately I'm not surprised. Our legislature is very developer leaning controlled.
There are still ways around it. Ive installed mine but didnt put it over the railing of the apartment. From the outside you dont see it unless you look for it, and from my perspective you loose some space. Yes it doesnt run as effectively because of shadows ( ~280W instead of the 400W ) but that still offsets my pc and audio setup from my bill haha
Where there is a will, there is a way
I might go the forgiveness rather than permission route. And I would be plugging into a power station rather than the wall, completely avoiding the issues this bill is meant to address. With how outdoorsy people around here are and the growing use of power stations, I'd think having a dual purpose camping setup you put on your balcony is a no brainer.
