this post was submitted on 26 May 2024
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[–] drkt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Do you know where I live? That isn't legal here. It doesn't just need approval, it needs to be installed by the power company and they're not going to do that because they have massive tax incentives to only install systems that backflow into the grid during overproduction. Just to be clear: You are not allowed to have a closed system with panels over a certain combined size. You are not allowed to connect anything that backflows into your walls (for safety reasons, regardless of if the thing claims to turn itself off in a power outage). If you go all in and do it properly, the power company (monopoly, you have no choice) will simply tax you what they lost or, incase of backflow, tax you 'transmission fees' for whatever you would have earned.

The only people who have solar panels here are rich yuppies who want to virtue signal because it makes zero financial sense to have them. Right wing lobby groups have made sure that consumers and municipalities are disincentivized from running solar panels anywhere for any reason and illegal in any niches where it might've still made sense.

e: your downvotes do nothing; this is law, not opinion

[–] nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

My mom is a boomer who was fortunate to inherit her mom’s house when both my dad and her mom died within months of each other.

She’s on a fixed income, but was able to get rebates and sincerely Solar relatively early, 2015 I think. Her medium sized northern US house was previously heated with wood pellets, but now has a dual zone heat pump, and the solar has paid for itself in electricity savings in the first 4 years.

She’s lost a panel and inverter since then (inverter was under warranty), but the replacement inverter is less than half the size, and leaves room in the garage for a battery someday.

It’s worked out very well financially for her. I’m jealous because I don’t have the cash or sunny roof space to make it work at my house.