Plug-in solar panels are now legal in Great Britain!
Hopefully this reduces the barrier to people getting solar at home.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/households-can-save-as-plug-in-solar-panels-come-to-market
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@John_Loader @john @neil that's what I thought, are they even going to still be working that long?
@Tattooed_Mummy @John_Loader @john @neil the panels themselves, almost certainly - solar panels have an official lifespan of nearly 30 years and even after that it's loss of percentages in efficiency not sudden death. The inverters and controllers might have a shorter lifespan though, and I'd be very wary of anything that needs a proprietary app to operate
@afewbugs @Tattooed_Mummy @John_Loader @john @neil solar systems that require any kind of cloud service or manufacturer involvement to configure and monitor them are a real nightmare. it's not just because the manufacturer might go out of business and the cloud service can disappear, but because a lot of the manufacturers delegate support to the system installer, so if the installer goes out of business (very common) you can be left in limbo land and getting support becomes very high friction.
@afewbugs @Tattooed_Mummy @John_Loader @john @neil and on a decade timescale it's often a pain regardless of apps. there was a recent FarmCraft101 video where he ran into this sort of problem - his inverter was faulty, the manufacturer still exists, but his installer went out of business, and the manufacturer says support requests have to go through the original installer, they don't have their own field techs, and they can't accept the liability of having an individual do the electrical work.
@neil totally useless. Only vastly overpriced kits. No planning reform to go with it, and OFGEM and the DNOs turned around and directly ignored government on multiple units
@neil £850 in Argos for a single panel. That's going to take a long time to save any money. No good at all for people under energy payment stress.
@neil this is garbage. all it serves is to distract from a lack of investment in real solar. frankly I despise this idea that solar is a primarily residential technology
any significant amount of plugin solar is a serious risk because these cheap controllers' backflow protection can't be trusted.
@neil
We worked out it would take 8 years to pay back. Saving us £70 to £100 a year. We are late 70s early 80s in a listed housing estate
@neil very annoying this excludes battery storage! But finally some positive movement.. hurrah!
@neil Thanks for the info.
Dumb question to more knowledgeable people: how does the "plug in" bit work?
Does it mean the solar panel has sockets that you plug your devices directly into (and your Xbox turns off if the sun goes in, assuming no battery), or that it plugs in to your domestic mains and reduces the power draw from the external grid?
Panels --> inverter --> plug inverter into a mains socket.
Quite incredible really, IMHO!
@neil @julianlawson of course the ideal solution would be to also have a battery between the inverter and mains socket, so you could store the energy you generate but don’t use. But those need to be installed and certified by a qualified sparky (and also benefit from higher capacity panels and inverter).
At least this means a much lower barrier to entry for many people, as it’s relatively safe to self-install with the 800W cap.
@neil This is good news. The cynical in me finds it weird that the timing coincides with the advent of so many data centers. Maybe is a way to liberate some grid capacity or prepare people for higher bills?
Anyways, more solar is always good regardless.
@neil and just like that, the whining of a million electricians and their electrical trade bodies began.
@neil I've already got solar on the boat and even I'm considering supplementing it with a plug in for a bit extra
@neil Great news!
Our experience here in Germany suggests that the decision whether to install these systems is a no-brainer. Recently, one of the discount supermarkets here had 2 panels + inverter for sale for 205€.
At current prices, they should pay for themselves in 4-5 years, even under conservative assumptions.
Germany recently updated the rules so that renters don’t need the landlord’s permission to install panels - that’s helpful too.
@neil 2-3 years ago, we paid 700€ for the same thing. Not sure we’ll ever break even.
On the other hand, it’s the least stressful technology I’ve ever used. Screw in the fasteners, hang the panels, plug them in, and you’re done. Takes an hour, if that much.
From then on, you just get a bit of free power whenever there’s enough sun. No further effort needed.
