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Solar Balconies Take Europe by Storm

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Re: Solar Balconies Take Europe by Storm

#2
> They come with small inverters to convert the DC output of the solar panels into AC power, which plug straight into an existing home power socket.

Hopefully these inverters are smart enough to cut the feed if the AC mains power goes out, to avoid backfeeding utility lines that may be under repair.

Re: Solar Balconies Take Europe by Storm

#4
The only negative thing I feel about all of this is that we're doing now. Once the glaciers are farked, the snow is going and the mass die offs are started. Better late than never they say, but why the hell didn't we just invest in this in the 1990s?

Re: Solar Balconies Take Europe by Storm

#5

The only negative thing I feel about all of this is that we're doing now. Once the glaciers are farked, the snow is going and the mass die offs are started. Better late than never they say, but why the hell didn't we just invest in this in the 1990s?

Solar panels were expensive and not very efficient then.

Re: Solar Balconies Take Europe by Storm

#6

> They come with small inverters to convert the DC output of the solar panels into AC power, which plug straight into an existing home power socket. Hopefully these inverters are smart enough to cut the feed if the AC mains power goes out, to avoid backfeeding utility lines that may be under repair.

I think this is why they're supposed to be limited to 800 W, but is that enough to avoid serious danger to utility workers when a whole apartment building or neighborhood is full of these?

Re: Solar Balconies Take Europe by Storm

#7

> They come with small inverters to convert the DC output of the solar panels into AC power, which plug straight into an existing home power socket. Hopefully these inverters are smart enough to cut the feed if the AC mains power goes out, to avoid backfeeding utility lines that may be under repair.

Yes. Any system that’s UL 3700 (or more generally IEEE 1547 / UL 1741) compliant mandates anti-islanding by shutting off the power within two seconds of grid loss.

Re: Solar Balconies Take Europe by Storm

#8

> They come with small inverters to convert the DC output of the solar panels into AC power, which plug straight into an existing home power socket. Hopefully these inverters are smart enough to cut the feed if the AC mains power goes out, to avoid backfeeding utility lines that may be under repair.

Fortunately they do, and in fact the article makes that clear. +1 for reading to the end of the paragraph that was quoted.

Re: Solar Balconies Take Europe by Storm

#9

The only negative thing I feel about all of this is that we're doing now. Once the glaciers are farked, the snow is going and the mass die offs are started. Better late than never they say, but why the hell didn't we just invest in this in the 1990s?

[dead]

Re: Solar Balconies Take Europe by Storm

#10
I have 2kW of panels on my balcony and 4kWh of batteries. I'm happy with the setup. I expect it to pay for itself in just a few years. The only thing I wish it had is open APIs to control the inverter and the batteries, ideally over bluetooth, so that I'm not forced to use an app.
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