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A complete 900W solar setup you can put on your balcony, plug into an outlet and cover a good chunk of your energy needs costs 200 Euros: https://shop-sicatron.

• longislandguido 7mo ago
  That sounds extremely dangerous; you cannot add PV (or any secondary source) in the US and connect it to utility power without it being done by an electrician and inspected by the city. I'm shocked that safety-conscious Europe—especially Germany, known for its strict rules—would allow this. Or is this more AliExpress garbage with a German flag glued to it?
  • vrganj 7mo ago
    Sounds like the US might have a problem with overregulation holding them back, then?
  • toomuchtodo 7mo ago
    > That sounds extremely dangerous; you cannot add PV (or any secondary source) in the US and connect it to utility power without it being done by an electrician and inspected by the city. This is factually inaccurate. Utah was the first to legalize plug in solar, and 17 other states have legislation pending to do so. It sounds like you are unaware of regulations around islanding in both Europe and the US. This is a solved problem. > The biggest regulatory concern – energizing lines during an outage and putting line workers at risk – is not really an issue, since inverters are covered by UL 1741, and have “anti-islanding” capability. UL 3700 specifically addresses plug in solar risks and mitigating them. Resources on the topic below: https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2026/03/27/the-theory-and-practice-of-plug-in-solar/ https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2026/03/27/the-theory-and-practi... https://solarunitedneighbors.org/resources/what-to-know-about-plug-in-solar/ https://solarunitedneighbors.org/resources/what-to-know-abou... https://www.ul.com/news/ul-solutions-debuts-testing-and-certification-framework-safer-plug-solar-across-united-states https://www.ul.com/news/ul-solutions-debuts-testing-and-cert... https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NANIjW3yGsFhpNTzvg30kMHoZyJKnuuFz6EjRdrpgjE/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NANIjW3yGsFhpNTzvg30kMHo... https://permitpower.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/Safety-of-Plug-in-Solar-fact-sheet.pdf https://permitpower.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/... https://www.cesa.org/resource-library/resource/plug-in-solar/ https://www.cesa.org/resource-library/resource/plug-in-solar... https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/balcony-solar-taking-state-legislatures-by-storm https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/balcony-solar-tak... https://www.brightsaver.org/publicly-filed-states https://www.brightsaver.org/publicly-filed-states https://www.digikey.com/en/articles/anti-islanding-and-smart-grid-protection https://www.digikey.com/en/articles/anti-islanding-and-smart...
  • pjc50 7mo ago
    Astonishingly, this is one case where the Germans have got the regulation right.
  • alnwlsn 7mo ago
    A lively Hackaday discussion from yesterday on this very topic: https://hackaday.com/2026/03/31/solar-balconies-take-europe-by-storm/#comments https://hackaday.com/2026/03/31/solar-balconies-take-europe-...
  • deleted 7mo ago
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