alt Hacker NewsWhy can't renters plug a battery into their socket, too? As long as the electric house grid is rated for the specified power (might not be the case on some countries, or in extremely old homes).
Replies
delusional • yesterday at 7:00 PM
I'm not an expert here, but I don't think you're supposed to backfeed electricity into your panel while you're connected to the grid. Doing something like this (historically at-home solar) you'd need a way to disconnect from the grid physically, at least if you wanted to reuse your home wiring.
Now, you could use the battery as a pass through power source, but then you'd have to change all the wiring in your home.
I'm not an expert. But a Tesla Powerwall type battery is a big thing to install for a renter, is it not? I would argue it's more than installing, say, a washer or window AC; probably more like installing a wall heat pump?
You would certainly need the owner's permission, and investing in the kind of adaptations needed might not be something most renters are interested in when it's not their own place. A battery has to be integrated into the whole electrical feed, and a responsible owner might insist that this is a permanent installation and something you can just take with you when you leave. Or if you do, undoing the install will be similarly costly. And who knows if your next place will allow you to install a battery as well.
I don't think you can realistically install it in an apartment, due to fire regulations, and it needs a lot of space. Personally, I live in a 74 m2 apartment, and there's simply no room anywhere. Wiring is another matter; electricity comes through shared risers I don't control.