I've had to plan on a PV+battery+load sharing solution because my utility provider will fine the absolute crap out of you if you export any power without an interconnect agreement in place. I used to be able to stealth grid-tie with the old analog meters (I never produced more in a month than I used), but these new digital tattle-tale meters will rat you out instantly.
this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2026
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Without that interconnect there is a danger to people working to repair the grid in the event of need for service. I'm not a fan of spyware meters that can map out when you use individual appliances in your home but there is a safety reason for those interconnects.
True, but I've had two grid-tie inverters, and both have had anti islanding protection and would not function when there is no utility power. Pretty much all grie-tie inverters have that protection.
I'm specifically referring to the interconnect agreement, though, which is where you have to jump through a bunch of hoops, fill out a bunch of forms, pay a fee, wait for the power company to come and inspect it, and get the utility provider's blessing before you can hook in a grie-tie inverter and export even a fraction of a watt.
And you have to go through that process every time there's a change to your system. e.g. If I start out with a 400 watt balcony solar kit, get that approved, and want to add another 400w kit, I would have to file new paperwork, pay another fee, wait for inspection, etc.
I'm all for reasonable safety measures, but the power company in my area is clearly doing all it can to pay lip service to "yes, we support balcony solar" while also making it as painful as possible for homeowners to actually implement it.
That's misinformation. These panels disconnect automatically at the very moment there is no power in their grid connection.
Eh, just start mining Bitcoin if you generate a surplus. It won't do much for you, but it'll keep your load high. Vertical gardening? Induction furnace?
Even in Germany, which does not has a reputation of being a very sunny part of Europe, the payback time of new balcony plug-in panels is about three years. And it is becoming easy to get cheap used ones.