Germany has a lot of plug-in solar for balconies (Balkonkraftwerke) and it’s available at very cheap prices (example here). I know it only provides up to 800W on a very sunny day but that’s still a significant amount for an apartment. And the beauty of these is that they are so plug-and-play, everything is included. You hang it, connect the cables and plug it into a socket and then you’re done.
I live in the Netherlands but I’ve been seriously considering picking up one of these if my building HoA doesn’t want to do a rooftop solar project for our building.
Just bought one two months ago and it’s pretty easy. Technical progress is fast and it’s cheap.
You best buy a combi: a battery including a microinverter. This allows you to feed in up to 2000W or 4 PV panels. However, here in Germany you can only feed 800W max into your house grid. All above will stored in the battery in given back slowly after sundown.
Technical setup: I have three current lines in my house (don’t know how in US it looks) and the system feeds power into just one of it - the one where the plug is plugged. I have a smart meter that tells me if this very current line has demand (oven, fridge,…) and I can open, adjust or close the power feed. This way I feed ZERO power into the grid out of my home as the system adjust the power amount to what I need in this moment.
I bought mine with 2 panels, 900W, 1,8kWh battery for 700€. Payback under 2 years.
Germany has a lot of plug-in solar for balconies (Balkonkraftwerke) and it’s available at very cheap prices (example here). I know it only provides up to 800W on a very sunny day but that’s still a significant amount for an apartment. And the beauty of these is that they are so plug-and-play, everything is included. You hang it, connect the cables and plug it into a socket and then you’re done.
I live in the Netherlands but I’ve been seriously considering picking up one of these if my building HoA doesn’t want to do a rooftop solar project for our building.
Yes, that was mentioned in the OP as well as the comment you replied to.
Just bought one two months ago and it’s pretty easy. Technical progress is fast and it’s cheap.
You best buy a combi: a battery including a microinverter. This allows you to feed in up to 2000W or 4 PV panels. However, here in Germany you can only feed 800W max into your house grid. All above will stored in the battery in given back slowly after sundown.
Technical setup: I have three current lines in my house (don’t know how in US it looks) and the system feeds power into just one of it - the one where the plug is plugged. I have a smart meter that tells me if this very current line has demand (oven, fridge,…) and I can open, adjust or close the power feed. This way I feed ZERO power into the grid out of my home as the system adjust the power amount to what I need in this moment.
I bought mine with 2 panels, 900W, 1,8kWh battery for 700€. Payback under 2 years.
Cool?
I love it.