Utah seems to be doing some cool things lately (try are featured in this article). They were at IIW this year talking about their new digital identity setup, too.
this post was submitted on 20 May 2025
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I imagine it's because they're bolted down quite well
Nah definitely the ATC shortage
I just took portable ones and ziptied them to my balcony connected to a solar generator. Works to feed all my electronics and server equipment. It only connects to the grid if its depleted, never feeds power back in.
So you can still do this in the states, so long as you're not feeding into the grid.
Honestly I'm surprised a republican is pushing for solar energy.
Also, I'm not sure how much those in the article cost, but the kind you bolt down to a roof can easily cost you into the thousands, so it takes a while for them to pay for themselves, which isn't something everybody's going to be okay with.
The article mentions around 800W of solar being typical, so around $250-350 for the panels plus some mounting hardware and a micro inverter. Maybe $1000 total?
If your energy rates are high it could pay for itself in a few years.
Tl;dr: Because we haven't created a safety standard for it.
The lack of an Underwriters Laboratories (UL) standard is perhaps the biggest obstacle to the adoption of balcony solar. The company certifies the safety of thousands of household electrical products; according to Iowa State University, “every light bulb, lamp, or outlet purchased in the US usually has a UL symbol and says UL Listed.” This assures customers that the product follows nationally recognized guidelines and can be used without the risk of a fire or shock.
Safety standards? Sounds like anti-profit standards! Guess who DOGE is cutting next!
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without reading the article I will guess... HOA regulations. How'd I do?
Not so good - issue is that your "code" for electrical installations doesn't include balcony solar and that your institutions are not able to include it because of reasons that do not make sense to anyone outside the USA
Let me guess? Electric monopoly?
No, it's electrical code. Standard outlets can't be used to supply power because it means you have a plug that has exposed wires commonly called suicide wires. While these balconey top solar likely use grid following so it has to detect a grid voltage, the electrical code doesn't consider it AFAIK. This rule is for safety and because it would only power half your house because there's only one leg per 110 outlet.
Or the fact that most people with balconies live in rented apartments and apartment managers aren't going to pay to subsidize an electric bill that tenants are entirely responsible for paying.
Yep. My apartment has restrictions in the lease that would prevent me from clamping solar panels as pictured.
"I don't want no woke commie energy"
Affording a balcony might be step one though.
I wanted an apartment with a balcony but they're all $500+ more a month in rent then I'm already paying.
This isn't for filthy renters
Having lived in a rental for many many years the inability to make small mods is SO annoying.
But this does beg the question, who OWNS a balcony. 99% of the home owners I know have single family houses. Granted I live in the south so owning an apartment is not the norm but I assume some people own an apartment in places like New York? But I’d assume people do?
I tried to look it up and from what I could find only about 15-17% of housing units in the US are apartments, and of those only about 15% own. So maybe 2% even have the opportunity. And this is assuming THOSE units have balconies, which I’m assuming only a small percentage of that 2% do. I’d think this is a major factor to balcony solar not taking off.
Owned apartments are just referred to as condos and presumably the condo owner owns the balcony while the "HOA/COA" owns the building.
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Oh, to be in Europe right now.
Visa marriages! I think here in Sweden at least it's not super difficult to get permanent residency via cohabitation, and cohabitation doesn't even require any particular paperwork. Granted, it's been a while since I looked into it, and with a government that's all chummy with the alt-right our immigration rules have gotten tighter, so things might've changed.
I'm hoping with the massive anti-US sentiment going right now, that the next government won't be right wing.
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Micro solar is doable for anyone with yard space though. Forget the grid and buy some battery storage, put all the electronics into a small shed (like a garbage can box or something, an enclosure to keep out rain). Put up panels anywhere you want. Run the inverter output into your house.
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I've never heard of balcony solar panels, much less ones you plug right into an outlet? Asked my German roomie and he's got no clue either.
How does plugging a power source into an outlet work? I'm no electrician, so that sounds bananas to me.
It detects a voltage connected to the plug and starts feeding with slightly higher voltage, done.
These are really common in Germany, even being sold as sets at supermarkets occasionally.
As long as you have one of the old Ferraris style meters, it just runs backwards, these usually pay for themselves in about three years on a sunny balcony that way.
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