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Why Balcony Solar Panels Haven’t Taken Off in the US
In countries like Germany, balcony-mounted solar panels are all the rage. But from breaker-masking to voltage mismatches, America’s grid isn’t ready for it—yet.
Their work mirrors what happened in Germany nearly a decade ago, when clean-energy advocates and companies began lobbying the country’s electrical certification body to amend safety regulations to legalize balcony solar. That threshold is considered low enough that even in the country’s oldest homes, the wiring can withstand the heating that occurs in even the worst of worst-case scenarios, said Sebastian Müller, chair of the German Balcony Solar Association, a consumer education and advocacy group. The product is in use at pilot sites nationwide, though a lack of standardized rules for plug-in solar has forced the company to negotiate interconnection agreements with local utilities—a time-consuming and sometimes costly process.
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