It wants to be the next trend. What is your opinion ?
Mine derives from 'if the utility allows it, is beneficial for the utility' not for the user, from what I understand.

The system uses solar panels ----> to a DC to 120VAC inverter feeding mains ----> into a dwelling outlet to power loads.

Missing here :

- Supplies power to neighbors too.
- The utility billing the neighbors for energy they use and your balcony generated.
- The utility does not need to invest in more generation equipment nor maintenance.
- Some bad accidents will happen from falling equipment as gravity is always on.
- Do no work while an outage, your 'balconied' system will be off.
- If has batteries, will not store sheet if charged, but did cost your money
- If has batteries, cannot provide power to the dwelling anyway.

 

I don’t blame you for being skeptical. I do wonder about the payback based on current pricing which is still too high. For safety, it has to see that mains power is actually on, and as with all grid tie inverters it locks itself onto the phase it sees

But for a naughty work around, how about a small battery driven inverter which generates a 50 or 60 Hz mains voltage signal which tricks the solar system into delivering power? Crucial that the mains supply is disconnected, so too dangerous for most people, but suppose you are off grid anyway?

 

It wants to be the next trend. What is your opinion ?
Mine derives from 'if the utility allows it, is beneficial for the utility' not for the user, from what I understand.

The system uses solar panels ----> to a DC to 120VAC inverter feeding mains ----> into a dwelling outlet to power loads.

Missing here :

- Supplies power to neighbors too.
- The utility billing the neighbors for energy they use and your balcony generated.
- The utility does not need to invest in more generation equipment nor maintenance.
- Some bad accidents will happen from falling equipment as gravity is always on.
- Do no work while an outage, your 'balconied' system will be off.
- If has batteries, will not store sheet if charged, but did cost your money
- If has batteries, cannot provide power to the dwelling anyway.

Utilities have been fighting it nationwide with IMO mainly bogus fears like you listed above. There is a huge surplus of panels and PV electronics from China. This trend (It's only a new trend in the USA) is IMO driven by that market.

There are worse things to spend your money on, with energy prices increasing, while PV systems are decreasing in price. For me it's been a engineering learning experience hobby building hybrid (on/off grid systems with energy storage) systems so I happy it's going official here like in the EU.





https://www.kqed.org/science/200212...olar-opening-the-market-to-the-new-technology

The device is a twist on rooftop solar: smaller, portable, and relatively inexpensive.

Balcony solar kits consist of just a few panels, an inverter that converts solar energy into the kind used in a home, and cables. In places where the technology is popular, like Germany, it can be plugged into a standard wall outlet.
The new law comes as Californians struggle to pay outsized electricity bills, which have risen substantially in recent years. Plug-in devices open the solar market to renters, people with unsuitable roofs, and those without the money to invest in a rooftop system.

 

It wants to be the next trend. What is your opinion ?

It's an interesting and relatively easy way to add a small amount of solar power to your home.
The caveat is that under rare circumstances, such a plugging two 15A loads into the same circuit along with the solar inverter and, depending on relative location of the sockets in the circuit, the AC circuit breaker might not detect the wire overload, thus giving the potential for an electrical fire.
But since there are few appliances that draw high current continuously besides electrical heaters, I don't think that's something to really worry about.

The utility billing the neighbors for energy they use and your balcony generated.

You utility meter should be configured so outgoing energy is subtracted from your total usage, but don't know if that's standard.

 

I think the way they work in the UK is that if you are using power the solar power will be used first but if it’s insufficient then the mains supply will make up the difference. But you get no benefit from power you may be feeding back into the mains. In other words, your meter, if it was the old style electromechanical meter, would not turn backwards. It may be different in other countries.

 

I looked at some of those balcony panels, but the cheapest I found would still have a payback time of 4-5 years at the electricity costs here in Colorado, and that's too long for me, since there's no guarantee they would even last that long.

 

My 7 KW residential grid-tied photovoltaic paid itself in 3.0 years. (No financing, no studies, no experts, no comisions, no transportation, no installation, no wiring)
To this moment I have paid $0.00 monthly electricity for 5+ years. This thread is for asking your opinion. I do not need at all to add any trendy 'balcony' system nor have "mainly bogus fears" I lost track of the local electrical rates as the credit I get is at the same rate my consumption is for the next 20 years when I will be under ground.
I also have 33 - 400W panels =13KW I have no south roof room for, nor balconies. But not much advantage installing as addition because generating more KWh per year than I consume per year makes no sense.

 

It wants to be the next trend. What is your opinion ?
Mine derives from 'if the utility allows it, is beneficial for the utility' not for the user, from what I understand.

The system uses solar panels ----> to a DC to 120VAC inverter feeding mains ----> into a dwelling outlet to power loads.

Missing here :

- Supplies power to neighbors too.
- The utility billing the neighbors for energy they use and your balcony generated.
- The utility does not need to invest in more generation equipment nor maintenance.
- Some bad accidents will happen from falling equipment as gravity is always on.
- Do no work while an outage, your 'balconied' system will be off.
- If has batteries, will not store sheet if charged, but did cost your money
- If has batteries, cannot provide power to the dwelling anyway.

My 7 KW residential grid-tied photovoltaic paid itself in 3.0 years. (No financing, no studies, no experts, no comisions, no transportation, no installation, no wiring)
To this moment I have paid $0.00 monthly electricity for 5+ years. This thread is for asking your opinion. I do not need at all to add any trendy 'balcony' system nor have "mainly bogus fears" I lost track of the local electrical rates as the credit I get is at the same rate my consumption is for the next 20 years when I will be under ground.
I also have 33 - 400W panels =13KW I have no south roof room for, nor balconies. But not much advantage installing as addition because generating more KWh per year than I consume per year makes no sense.

View attachment 371985

Many of your objections, such as it supplies power to the neighbors, or the utility billing the neighbors for energy the use and your system generated, or the utility does not need to invest in more generation or maintenance, gravity still applying, or not working while an outage. Those all apply to your rooftop system, as well. Yet you seem to be of the opinion that your rooftop system isn't just beneficial for the utility. Your position appears to be that, since you've concluded that it makes no sense for YOU, that it therefore doesn't make sense, period.

On top of that, some of your points are red herrings. You make it sound like someone with a balcony panel is generating electricity that they are giving to the utility for free and then the utility is selling it to your neighbor. Nothing is further from the truth. Any power that is generated by the user above what they are using at that moment is purchased by the utility. They PAID for it. They then sold it to your neighbor at the SAME RATE that they purchased from you. So the utility made NOTHING off of it. In fact, they are losing money because they are having to cover the lines losses between your and your neighbor.

Beyond that, you are proud of the fact that you haven't paid a dime to the utility in five years. So who is paying for maintaining the grid that services your house and that you need in order for your grid-tied system to work? Your neighbors are subsidizing YOU because their rates are higher because they have to pay your share of those costs.

As with all things, what makes sense for one situation may not make sense for another. That goes for rooftop, it goes for balcony, it goes for grid-tied, it goes for off-grid. What makes sense in one part of the country may not make sense in another part. Regulations vary, insolation varies, rates vary, billing tiers vary, costs vary.

Would you have paid to put all those panels on your roof if you were renting the house? Would you have paid to put up panels on the roof of the building where you owned a condo?