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The title of this article is quite misleading. It's not saying that it's illegal to have solar panels powering your home, only to have a solar system that does

by gnode 9y ago

The title of this article is quite misleading. It's not saying that it's illegal to have solar panels powering your home, only to have a solar system that does not tie into the grid. Then making it seem that requiring anti-islanding protection is some act of malice.

sddfd 9y ago
I think the title is right in spirit. The law forbids you to use power from your own solar panels if the grid is offline. This is a nonsense requirement. Also the law requires you to use the same inhouse wiring as the grid for power from the solar panels. Why should anyone care about how you wire your own home, as long as your interface with the outside world is according to spec?
- jimktrains2 9y ago
  The future buyer of your home would like to ensure the safety and correctness of the wiring. The future buyer also needs to know what the limits of the system are, so that they don't accidentally overload it, and if it is overloaded that it performs appropriately (i.e. stop instead of catching fire). A future buyer may, thinking the house is to code, attempt to connect the house to the grid. If it is not wired appropriately that can also cause risks to the occupants. Future contractors also need to know the set up of the system. Being done differently could possibly very real safety risks. Neighbors would like to ensure that your house does not catch fire, risking their houses.
  - JshWright 9y ago
    Firefighters would like to ensure that your house does not catch fire, risking their lives.
  - sddfd 9y ago
    The requirement to use the same wiring precludes the home owner from having an additional low-volate wiring in the house. Most modern devices use low voltage nowadays, check what any of the power supply units for your laptop, phone, etc output to the device. Low-volate is less dangerous, and international regulations (IEC 60449) reflect that. I'm not an expert, but it is likely that besides the law discussed here, such wiring would be legal even without approval. It definitely is in Germany, and to say the least, we like regulations.
    - jimktrains2 9y ago
      I'd be surprised if it precluded the use of low voltage wiring because there are standards for it as well. The issue is that the law ends up with houses needing the 120VAC connection to the grid. I don't think that doesn't mean there can't be a secondary low voltage line, but ianal.
- IshKebab 9y ago
  It doesn't sound like nonsense to me. It could definitely be dangerous to feed high voltages back into the powered-down grid. And your home isn't your home forever. One day you will die and someone will inherit your shoddy home grid system. Electrical wiring regulations exist for a reason.
  - sddfd 9y ago
    > It could definitely be dangerous to feed high voltages back into the powered-down grid. I said as long as the interface is according to spec. There are effective mechanisms to prevent this kind of feedback. > shoddy home grid system Then have an electrical engineer review and approve it. Still no reason to forbid it.
ubernostrum 9y ago
The controversy is over what happens when the power supplied via the grid goes out. There are generally two options that could be taken here, in light of the argument that a powered house connected to an unpowered grid is unsafe: 1. Any solar system on the house would be required to shut off at the same time, leaving the house without power from any source, or 2. A solar system on the house could continue to provide power to the house, but only if the house is temporarily disconnected from the grid while doing so. Florida law effectively requires (1) and forbids (2). "Effectively" because, although a switch is present which could disconnect from the grid temporarily to allow the solar system to power the house, only the power company is permitted to operate it, and in fact the power company is permitted to physically lock the switch to prevent disconnection from occurring, thus preventing the solar power system from being used when the grid is down. The net result of these policies is that, yes, it is in fact not legally possible to continue supplying power to your house from solar when the grid is down.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  Is there some guidance from the state somewhere that makes [2] clear? Would be more informative than the link.
- KGIII 9y ago
  The ability to lock it is almost certainly for lock-out, tag-out reasons. They will come ensure you're disconnected and then just one person has the key to the lock they put on it. That one person isn't the supervisor, but the person doing the work. If more than one person work on it, they will all put locks on it.
  - ubernostrum 9y ago
    What it's intended for is irrelevant. What's at issue is they can just leave a lock on there permanently, as a means of leaving you completely without power when the grid goes down.
    - KGIII 9y ago

by gnode 9y ago

sddfd 9y ago

I think the title is right in spirit. The law forbids you to use power from your own solar panels if the grid is offline. This is a nonsense requirement. Also the law requires you to use the same inhouse wiring as the grid for power from the solar panels. Why should anyone care about how you wire your own home, as long as your interface with the outside world is according to spec?

jimktrains2 9y ago
The future buyer of your home would like to ensure the safety and correctness of the wiring. The future buyer also needs to know what the limits of the system are, so that they don't accidentally overload it, and if it is overloaded that it performs appropriately (i.e. stop instead of catching fire). A future buyer may, thinking the house is to code, attempt to connect the house to the grid. If it is not wired appropriately that can also cause risks to the occupants. Future contractors also need to know the set up of the system. Being done differently could possibly very real safety risks. Neighbors would like to ensure that your house does not catch fire, risking their houses.
- JshWright 9y ago
  Firefighters would like to ensure that your house does not catch fire, risking their lives.
- sddfd 9y ago
  The requirement to use the same wiring precludes the home owner from having an additional low-volate wiring in the house. Most modern devices use low voltage nowadays, check what any of the power supply units for your laptop, phone, etc output to the device. Low-volate is less dangerous, and international regulations (IEC 60449) reflect that. I'm not an expert, but it is likely that besides the law discussed here, such wiring would be legal even without approval. It definitely is in Germany, and to say the least, we like regulations.
  - jimktrains2 9y ago
    I'd be surprised if it precluded the use of low voltage wiring because there are standards for it as well. The issue is that the law ends up with houses needing the 120VAC connection to the grid. I don't think that doesn't mean there can't be a secondary low voltage line, but ianal.
IshKebab 9y ago
It doesn't sound like nonsense to me. It could definitely be dangerous to feed high voltages back into the powered-down grid. And your home isn't your home forever. One day you will die and someone will inherit your shoddy home grid system. Electrical wiring regulations exist for a reason.
- sddfd 9y ago
  > It could definitely be dangerous to feed high voltages back into the powered-down grid. I said as long as the interface is according to spec. There are effective mechanisms to prevent this kind of feedback. > shoddy home grid system Then have an electrical engineer review and approve it. Still no reason to forbid it.

ubernostrum 9y ago

The controversy is over what happens when the power supplied via the grid goes out. There are generally two options that could be taken here, in light of the argument that a powered house connected to an unpowered grid is unsafe: 1. Any solar system on the house would be required to shut off at the same time, leaving the house without power from any source, or 2. A solar system on the house could continue to provide power to the house, but only if the house is temporarily disconnected from the grid while doing so. Florida law effectively requires (1) and forbids (2). "Effectively" because, although a switch is present which could disconnect from the grid temporarily to allow the solar system to power the house, only the power company is permitted to operate it, and in fact the power company is permitted to physically lock the switch to prevent disconnection from occurring, thus preventing the solar power system from being used when the grid is down. The net result of these policies is that, yes, it is in fact not legally possible to continue supplying power to your house from solar when the grid is down.

maxerickson 9y ago
Is there some guidance from the state somewhere that makes [2] clear? Would be more informative than the link.
KGIII 9y ago
The ability to lock it is almost certainly for lock-out, tag-out reasons. They will come ensure you're disconnected and then just one person has the key to the lock they put on it. That one person isn't the supervisor, but the person doing the work. If more than one person work on it, they will all put locks on it.
- ubernostrum 9y ago
  What it's intended for is irrelevant. What's at issue is they can just leave a lock on there permanently, as a means of leaving you completely without power when the grid goes down.
  - KGIII 9y ago