"Plug-and-play solar panels are popping up in yards and on balcony railings across Germany, driven by bargain prices and looser regulations."
"Each of the lightweight panels produces only enough electricity to charge a laptop or run a small refrigerator..."
“You don’t need to drill or hammer anything,” Ms. Berg said. “You just hang them from the balcony like wet laundry in Italy.”
"The so-called plug-in systems involve routing the direct current generated by the panels to an inverter, which converts it to an alternating current. They can then be plugged into a conventional wall socket to feed power to a home."
"In Germany, individual plug-in panels sell for as low as 200 euros, or about $217, at big box stores. Complete sets, including mountings, an inverter and cables, are about twice that cost."
Sounds like something we in the U.S.A. should be researching.
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Jackery.
We've already researched this. I just bought a unit for my off the grid cabin that will handle my lighting, refrigeration, Cpap, and the electricity needed to operate a self contained toilet. Since the cabin is at 3600 ft elevation any AC needs will com from these microcooling AC that one freezes cartridges in the freezer for. Heat comes from a wood stove. In addition all computer recharging as well as phone for any offline uses.
None of this stuff is hard or expensive, particularly, but there is a degree of planning and experimentation. I bought a small unit first and ran some tests.
Note: Prop the panels up a little bit. If you lay them flat on the grass, tempting to do in the summer with the sun overhead, they will kill the grass in pretty short order. The heat is hot.
Isn't Jackery more for
(in reply to fischbobber)
Isn't Jackery more for "portable" needs? Can it be plugged into my house to supplement my power demands?
Transfer box.
(in reply to bizgrrl)
You have to add up the power you'd need and buy the storage capacity (batteries and generator) and match the number of solar poanels to the amount of electricity you need, and you have to set up and take down these panels , but yeah, you could do a big house with this system.
There's really more math involved figuring out what you need , than anything else. LEDs have almost no draw and computers aren't bad. You probably will want to supplement central heat with one of these small quick cool units for less than 100.00.
Then you wire your house to the jackary transfer box and just switch when the electricity goes out. The unit is portable/mobile but this stuff is heavy. Have a plan for moving it around. Batteries weigh 40 lbs and the generator I got weighs 61 lbs.
Ask me in a year how it's working. I've got a remodel project I'm going to use it for first.
Other companies do the same thing designed for different markets. Prices are dropping.
Hanging solar panels
(in reply to fischbobber)
Bob, I dunno what kind of panels you're using, but if they're lightweight flexible monocrystaline like my 5-pounders, I bought a black thrift store garment rack, adjustable as to height, for $2 and picked up some 6 inch black 'S" hooks at Dollar Tree (gardening supplies area) to hang mine, ha.
At its full height, the garment rack can hold 2 panels, horizontally, or at its collapsed height, it holds one panel, also horizontally.
Obviously, since the garment rack can't be angled, the panels hung this way pull more wattage in the morning and late afternoon hours, when the sun is lower in the sky. But the rack does work like a charm.
EcoFlow PowerStream Balcony System
EcoFlow launched its PowerStream Balcony System last year, a plug-and-play sort of system designed for apartments, but instead of the panels linking directly to your wall outlets, it utilizes a power station, microinverter, and "smart plugs" to feed power back into your home, still via wall outlets. The kit doesn't generate much power, nor is it available in the U.S. yet (I don't think). It, too, is increasingly popular in Europe, I read.
It costs about $2200 in U.S. dollars. There's no real install involved and the flat cables it utilizes can run under existing doors or windows so that no drilling is required to accommodate them.
I've bought three smaller EcoFlow power stations over the last year, as well as the solar panels recommended for each unit. Really, in this little townhouse condo I'm in these days (with stairs), I prefer having several smaller power stations to one larger one. My biggest power station is just 26 pounds and two of my three solar panels are of the flexible monocrystaline type, so just 5 pounds each.
I don't have the ability to plug my solar power directly into my house, of course, but until I know more about the safety of these plug-and-play systems, I have some concerns for them--especially in connected housing like I'm in, where I could risk burning down my neighbor's house, too, ha.
But *IF* I should next add a plug-and-play system, I'd go with EcoFlow. I'm really impressed with their products.
That 2023 article:
(link...)
From the EcoFlow-Europe site, more on specs and their various plug-and-play bundles:
(link...)
*Better* and more current link
Ah, here's a much better and more current link (May 2024) reviewing EcoFlow's PowerStream Balcony System--although this guy has sunk $4,000 plus into his rig.
And yes, as of May, still not available in the U.S.
(link...)
Thanks, Tamara. I didn't
(in reply to Tamara Shepherd)
Thanks, Tamara. I didn't think they were available in the U.S. I wonder how long it will take for them to be introduced here. Are we not innovating? There are numerous stories reported where people are getting ripped off by solar energy installers. Why can't we have nice things? :)
Caveats in Europe
(in reply to bizgrrl)
In my reading last night (and into the morning, ha) it looked like they had a lot of different caveats, even across Europe.
I learned that in the UK, homeowners may attach an inverter only to a dedicated wall outlet installed by a licensed electrician (how government can monitor that directive, I can't imagine), while in the Netherlands, homeowners are actually fined by their utility providers for producing more electricity than they can use?!
It may be that the grass isn't hugely greener on the other side of the fence, but yeah, Europeans still appear to have options we don't have.
I don't know how China builds EVs for half the cost of ours, either...
Lobbyists?
(in reply to bizgrrl)
Also, I read at the sites of a couple of companies selling roof installations and they were adamantly opposed to these plug-and-play systems, citing safety (fire) concerns?
Made me wonder whether their concerns are genuine, or if possibly they have armies of lobbyists they're paying, to keep the tech out of the U.S. and thus keep their niche intact?!