Isn't it necessary to have the grid as a backup consumer?
What happens if you over produce solar energy, but don't have the necessary means to dissipate it?
Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations
21–30 of 180 posts
Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations
#22The article is trying so hard it's hard to tell what the actual issue is. It is dangerous to backfeed the grid -- you may kill the line worker coming to fix a blown transformer or downed line. In some places a grid connection is considered necessary by the building code. If so, you must use proper equipment.
Read the law. It is illegal to have a home not connected to the grid at all. so there is no danger about a backfeed since the 2 systems never meet.
What FPL has done is require that solar installations get signed off by their electricians. And they delay, delay and delay that certification process. Meanwhile, you are paying for the cells and installation and it sits unused indefinitely.
Some local power companies had that inserted into city code.
Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations
#23I can see an opportunity here for the grid to become owned/operated by the people, not massive corporate greed machines. A house who has excess sells it to neighbors who do not have the solar capacity where neither are connected to the normal grid. Throw some technology into automatically shutting down the generator side every X hours unless its given authorization wirelessly. This foolproofs the root cause of uncontrollable distributed hot lines.
Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations
#24The article is trying so hard it's hard to tell what the actual issue is. It is dangerous to backfeed the grid -- you may kill the line worker coming to fix a blown transformer or downed line. In some places a grid connection is considered necessary by the building code. If so, you must use proper equipment.
This is wrong, otherwise we won't install them. When they need to work they can cut the line without problem.
Also you can run the system in autonomous mode, no risk at all for worker, even it's a lie.
Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations
#25The article is trying so hard it's hard to tell what the actual issue is. It is dangerous to backfeed the grid -- you may kill the line worker coming to fix a blown transformer or downed line. In some places a grid connection is considered necessary by the building code. If so, you must use proper equipment.
How come solar panels are ubiquitous elsewhere? Is it that e.g. Germany is risking the lives of line workers? Is Florida doing the right thing, or the wrong thing?
The same regulations exist in Germany also there is no way around them, in the UK if you want to either backfeed or connect a solar (or any other power source ) installation directly to your house mains you have to tick a ton of boxes including giving the power company control over the feed (basically when they shut down the power they also shut you down).
If you have a completely segregated solar installation no one cares.
Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations
#26Isn't it necessary to have the grid as a backup consumer? What happens if you over produce solar energy, but don't have the necessary means to dissipate it?
I assume there's battery systems in place.
Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations
#27The 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.
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?
Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations
#28The article is trying so hard it's hard to tell what the actual issue is. It is dangerous to backfeed the grid -- you may kill the line worker coming to fix a blown transformer or downed line. In some places a grid connection is considered necessary by the building code. If so, you must use proper equipment.
Yes, it's required for generators too. You have to install some sort of switch (I forgot what it's called) so the house power doesn't feed back into the grid and kill a lineman. The title is very misleading as well. Just goes to show that Fox News and their ilk aren't the only ones who do fake news, it's journalism in general. Also, the title is an outright lie: "Thanks to Lobbying, It's Illegal to Power Your Home wi…
> ... have to install some sort of switch ...
A qualified electrician installs a "transfer" switch. It's two breakers tied mechanically so that one position feeds the house with line power, flipping it, the other is the generator.
I have one to keep my refrigerator, well and furnace running.
Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations
#29This is what happened in Spain too.
I'm looking over my balcony in Spain and can see quite a few solar panels! Maybe they are for hot water heaters or something then.
Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations
#30I can see an opportunity here for the grid to become owned/operated by the people, not massive corporate greed machines. A house who has excess sells it to neighbors who do not have the solar capacity where neither are connected to the normal grid. Throw some technology into automatically shutting down the generator side every X hours unless its given authorization wirelessly. This foolproofs the root cause of uncont…
You still have the back feed issue. Sooner or later, someone is going to have to do maintenance on that new grid you just created.