[simmschi]

We have a similar approach here in Germany. Anyone has the right to install a small solar system on their balcony or similar and feed up to 800W into their local grid. You just mount it and plug it into your house/apartment grid. Technically you have to get it registered, too.

The sky is not falling, buildings are not crumbling and the grid is not burning.

It's not revolutionary either, but slowly picking up traction. You see more and more installations here in Berlin. On the country side where people have their own house and enough space it's a total no-brainer to set up one of those mini solar systems.

The typical systems you can buy off the shelf (800-1000W panels + inverter) amortize after a few years already, and are getting cheaper every year. I have the feeling the main limitation in the city is having a nice balcony with good mounting points.

[leonidasrup]

The sky is not falling in Germany, buildings are not crumbling and the grid is sometimes overpowered with solar electricity when the weather is sunny, there is not enough demand and grid operators can't remotely curtail small solar systems. Like during Easter Monday

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-07/germany-p...

Germany has to invest more in smart electric meters, which could project negative electricity prices to individual households.

And more investments in energy storage systems. (Even through I think that lithium batteries would better help decarbonization in EVs than in electric grid storage systems).

[simmschi]

Totally agree, the current state of the German grid is not ideal. But I have the naive gut feeling that storage prices will also come down and we will see a similar non-political quiet revolution here as well. I.e. people and companies will simply install more and more storage because it is economically viable, not because of ideology. We'll see.

[leonidasrup]

Germany’s Federal Network Agency is aware of stability issues of the German electric grid on days like Easter Monday and insufficient deployment of smart meters.

https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/german-grid-regulator-l...

[foobarian]

It's worth noting that the common complaint about systems like this, which is that they could cause dangerous conditions during power outages when people expect the power lines to be unpowered, is addressed by electronics that only feed power when they detect an active mains.

[leonidasrup]

All solar inventors connected to public electric grid have to detect this state and disconnect. You are not allowed to connect arbitrary inventors to electric grid, they have to be compliant with IEEE 1547, UL 1741.

https://www.aforenergy.com/what-is-anti-islanding-in-solar-i...

https://www.iee-business.com/knowledge/wind-solar-hybrid-sys...

The households which installed solar inverters to supply electricity in case of grid blackout really have look into anti-islanding.

[ButlerianJihad]

> not allowed to connect arbitrary inventors to electric grid

Ghost of Thomas Edison breathes a sigh of relief

[euroderf]

> IEEE 1547, UL 1741

And the EU ?

[MandieD]

Right now, they're about 300 EUR at OBI (major home improvement chain in Germany and Austria) if you don't care at all about avoiding ties to specific apps, and about 1000 from solar specialists if you want to go with the more flexible Hoymiles + OpenDTU inverter setup, 4 panels and a 2kWh (or so) battery, and is one of the few things that has gotten cheaper recently.