alt Hacker NewsNew bill would let New Yorkers hang solar panels from windows
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We have a similar approach here in Germany. Anyone has the right to install a small solar system on their balcony or similar and feed up to 800W into their local grid. You just mount it and plug it into your house/apartment grid. Technically you have to get it registered, too.
The sky is not falling, buildings are not crumbling and the grid is not burning.
It's not revolutionary either, but slowly picking up traction. You see more and more installations here in Berlin. On the country side where people have their own house and enough space it's a total no-brainer to set up one of those mini solar systems.
The typical systems you can buy off the shelf (800-1000W panels + inverter) amortize after a few years already, and are getting cheaper every year. I have the feeling the main limitation in the city is having a nice balcony with good mounting points.
Since it's not a battery storage setup, the energy being sent into your home circuit alleviates demand by a small amount. Where did they come up with 10 to 25% savings? Factors such as an optimal view of the sun for as much as possible, south-facing or biased East or West, would be the max. payoff. Night would be a zero net gain. At a savings of $7 a month, the panel would pay for itself in maybe 10 years not factoring in government subsidies. You need to keep it clean as well for it to maintain its potential output.
Why not being more considerate on how we use electricity? Low wattage lightbulbs, less laundry, shorter showers? Also since aesthetics don’t matter, let’s also hang clothes by the windows so we don’t use dryers.
I read a good article on this technology on CNN.com last month:
https://www.cnn.com/clean-energy-solar-diy-balcony-backyard-...
I live in Virginia, and REALLY want to try this, but I am sure Dominion Virginia Power and my HOA would not be happy; rooftop solar is out of my price range. The article I provided a link to says they are trying to change the laws in the U.S. to enable everybody to do this, and I really hope they are successful.
I live in the Phoenix metro area, on the second floor. My balcony faces precisely 225° in azimuth. That is due southwest.
A few years ago, I purchased a "solar backpack" which incorporates a solar panel and a laptop-sized power bank. During the winter solstice, I tried charging the power bank with actual solar energy, and it took more than 3 weeks to fill it up!
Our lease agreement has some concessions for potential satellite dishes and external TV antennas. So I asked my landlady if she would permit me to install solar panels out there. Her answer was a resounding "NO".
It wasn't merely about the aesthetics, but also about the question of hooking them up. Our electricity is unmetered and included in our rent. My unit has an individual circuit breaker box, but how would solar power be fed into such a system? It would be chaos, and the management would have no way of regulating or maintaining such a bizarre setup. I think that's going to be a major logistics challenge for anyone who goes down this road.
I live in Berlin and it's quite common here. I personally cannot have it because my balcony has no railing but a low wall that doesn't allow me to hang the solar panel. Plus, you need a power socket easily reachable and that's also a blocker for me, otherwise I would have installed it.
I live in Brooklyn and have spent about a grand outfitting my apartment with ACs. I would absolutely take advantage of this if the law passed.
I wonder what the terminal velocity of a falling solar panel is...
> Her 3.5 foot by 3.5 foot solar panel weighs about 25 pounds and is a half-inch thick. It can harvest about 220 watts of energy from the sun each day.
Grrrr. Watts is not a unit of energy.
As a holder of a physics degree this annoys me quite a lot. Journalists seem to have trouble keeping track of energy vs power. It's like saying my friends house is 5 miles per hour away.
/rant off
It’s not hanging from a window… I’m having trouble picturing what that look like.
This can be dangerous for utility company workers.
When a line needs to be repaired, the technician takes steps to ensure the line isn’t carrying current from known sources. A panel plugged in by a civilian via a home outlet is not known. The technician can be killed by the unexpected current.
The hero image in this article shows the realities of a lot of balcony solar setups: The panel is held up with zip ties stretched over a large span, which will snap after UV exposure in the sun. That panel is going to fall over in a few months. The remaining equipment and wiring is sitting on the ground, one errant kick away from dangling off the edge. That power cable is probably running through a door or window where it gets squished and damaged each time it’s opened and closed. The panel is mounted vertically and behind a thick glass panel, meaning it will be getting much less sunlight than the sticker rating, which she probably used to estimate her savings.
Balcony solar setups don’t have to look like this, but many do. You can find much better examples from users who do a good job thinking it all through. Often they’re an impulse purchase by someone like the person in the article who want a hobby or the bragging rights of saying they have solar, but for whom the important details like safely mounting everything and running the wires in a way that will survive 10 years are an afterthought.
That’s why I’m starting to change my mind on this balcony solar concept for the masses. I think it would be great if there was a low friction way for qualified individuals to install a reasonable system, but I’m afraid the actual reality will be a bunch of zip-tied solar panels dangling from balconies like this.