<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/balcony-solar-takes-us-by-storm-as-27-states-announce-new-plug-and-play-pv-laws/>
"Lauren Phillips’ balcony just became a power plant. A very small, carbon-free
one.
A few weeks ago, the attorney set up what may be the first plug-and-play solar
panel in the Bronx. The 220-watt installation, which is secured to the balcony
railing with zip ties, has been a boon for the co-op apartment owner and mother
of two.
“I have an enormous childcare bill every month. My electricity bills never go
anything but up,” Phillips said. “Everywhere you turn, things are only getting
more expensive.”
Plug-in solar nonprofit Bright Saver, which provided the roughly $400 panel to
Phillips at no cost, estimated that it will produce about 15% to 20% of the
electricity her family uses and save her about $100 per year. Every time
Phillips gazes at the device, she said, she’s amazed that “this is just a
thing that I plugged in, and I’m generating my own power.”
Phillips is one of the few intrepid Americans installing DIY solar without the
permission of their utilities, taking advantage of a regulatory gray area. Only
deep-red Utah has a law, passed in March 2025, that explicitly allows residents
to plug in these devices. A few thousand households there have installed
systems so far, Bright Saver said.
But other states, including New York, could soon follow Utah’s lead and unleash
much broader adoption of solar panels that plug into a standard 120-volt wall
outlet.
As of Wednesday (February 25), Democratic and Republican lawmakers in 27 states
and Washington, D.C., had announced their own legislation to make these systems
permissible, according to Bright Saver."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
