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Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

fpl.com

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Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#31

Post by wallace_f »

emodendroket wrote: post #14
crististm wrote: post #2

This seems to be straight from a dystopian movie or book I'm not sure it isn't a joke. Is the "get off my lawn" a thing of the past in US? What business have US gov, or anybody else for that matter, to do with what I do on my property?

Well a lot I'd say, given that your home has to conform to tons of local building codes.

I think his point was that it's not a legitimate role of government to interfere in the details of your private life inside your own home, especially when they affect no one else.

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#32

Post by grecy »

oconnore wrote: post #8

The 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.

So don't backfeed the grid when the grid is "off"

That has nothing to do with powering you own home from you own solar panels.

When the grid-tie inverter senses the grid is down (it could even be scheduled outage for maintenance) - it stops feeding the grid and only powers the house. When it senses the grid is back it ties to the grid again.

If you need to work on the house, there can be a master switch where the panels come into the inverter (law in Australia) so you can manually turn them off, thus ensuring none of the house has power.

Simple.

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#33

Post by loopbit »

jvannistelrooy wrote: post #9
sumang wrote: post #5

This is what happened in Spain too.

Why is it forbidden in Spain?

It's not forbidden, but you have to pay extra taxes and there's way more limitations.

This gives a bit more background: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2015/10/spain-a...

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#34

Post by viridian »

Clubber wrote: post #15
oconnore wrote: post #8

The 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…

Does anyone actually still believe this? The idea that [journalism I agree with] is fair and [journalism I disagree with] is fake news was dead by last year. I can't think of a single general audience publication that hasn't transitioned to clickbaity, half truth nonsense. I have largely stopped reading the NYT and the WSJ for this reason. I still like the economist, but even they feel like they are slipping at times.

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#35

Post by ivanhoe »

oconnore wrote: post #8

The 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.

Not just that, but it also can make the whole grid unstable under certain conditions. Electricity is an EM wave and if everybody could leak the out of the phase energy into the grid it would create interferences and oscillations all over it.

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#36

Post by rahible »

d--b wrote: post #21

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?

It looks like FPL has a Net Metering program, which a lot of power companies offer. In short, you get credits on your bill for the power that goes back into the grid. It used to be that some power companies actually write you a check.

https://www.fpl.com/clean-energy/net-metering.html

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#37

Post by dagw »

willvarfar wrote: post #18
oconnore wrote: post #8

The 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?

You need a similar permit in Germany as well, but the government has pushed hard to make getting a permit as quick and easy as possible. Germany has also invested massive amounts of money to upgrade their grid infrastructure to handle all those solar panels feeding electricity back into the grid. Florida's grid looks completely different and simply isn't built to handle the same number of solar cells.

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#38

Post by thriftwy »

Do they have the authority to enter your home and check what kind of power you are using? What does it stem from? Can you shoot them for trespass?

The same thing WRT rain water which is mentioned in comments.

To me it seems like an unreasonable invasion of household borders: trying to regulate something confined in a household.

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#40

Post by kuschku »

willvarfar wrote: post #18
oconnore wrote: post #8

The 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?

There are two options.

(a) If the grid goes down, your solar also is deactivated

(b) If the grid goes down, your house is powered separately by solar, but disconnected from the grid.

In Germany the second is more common, while in parts of Florida, the first is required.

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