Meet balkonkraftwerk, the simple technology putting solar power in the hands of renters and nudging Germany toward its clean energy goals.
  • Python
    15·
    2 months ago

    Yess, the new regulations are awesome! Especially the recent simplification of the MaStR (Marktstammdatenregister) System has made everything easier for anyone involved.
    But… just a heads up, if you don’t register your balcony panel, we can and do find you using satellite pictures 🔫🙂

      • plz1@lemmy.worldEnglish
        14·
        2 months ago

        If it can feed back to the grid, it can be a safety issue for electrical workers. Having them know about this stuff before they mess with lines is the safe way to do it.

      • Python
        6·
        2 months ago

        Yup, the reason is that undocumented solar panels plugged into the Grid could cause seriously dangerous power spikes and throw off calculations on how much Suppliers need to feed into the Grid. So the only panels that don’t have to be declared and registered with MaStR are ones on top of cars and ones that are so remote that you couldn’t plug them in in any case (but Germany has basically no places remote enough to meet that criteria)

    • Rolivers@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      5·
      2 months ago

      Hmm interesting. What about solar panels that aren’t connected to the grid? Can you register them as such?

      I have no intention of backfeeding into the grid but want to power a home battery with a solar panel or two.

      • Python
        5·
        2 months ago

        Solar panels that cannot be connected to the grid don’t have to be declared, but it is based on ability, not intention. So a solar panel so far away from civilization that you physically couldn’t connect it is fine, but if it’s at your house and you could connect it, then you have to register it. (Registration is a 5min online form though, it’s very hassle-free for a system that the German Government came up with lol)

        • Sonori@beehaw.org
          2·
          2 months ago

          Surely ability is determined by having the proper inverter though? The panels are irrelevant as without a proper grid matching inverter all connecting to the grid is going to do is destroy the inverter.

          Also, as someone who is currently going through the process of registering a grid connected inverter here in the states, surely the whole point of the registration process is the part where an appropriately licensed electrician comes out to physically verify that the inverter is grid compliant and anti islanding, as that is the part that is likely to actually kill someone if it is improperly installed or configured.

          It’s also something the government/utility has to take on trust to be declared, as a miss wired generator or battery backup transfer switch poses the near exact same risk.

          • Python
            1·
            2 months ago

            I’m not very knowledgeable on Inverters, they don’t come up much in the legal material I juggle around at work lol

            Balcony Units have them built in as far as I know. The only big regulation when it comes to wiring is that anyone who has solar needs their Electricity Counter replaced with a bidirectional “Smart Meter”, because classical Counters can’t really count down when you feed into the Grid. I’m guessing that the Smart Meters themselves would have some sort of safety mechanism to prevent wildly miswired connections.

            I think there was some sort of requirement to at least have an electrician check the solar setup before it gets connected too, but German law in most parts is “If you decide not to hire a licensed professional, then anything that happens is your own fault”.

            • Sonori@beehaw.org
              2·
              2 months ago

              Unless you’re meters have a whole lot more protections built into them than ours I don’t think that they would have anti-islanding or grid frequency protections built in, that latter at least seems like it has to be done at the inverter level.

              If it is the case than why bother with any registration or monitoring at all beyond requing a smart meter for anyone with a grid tied inverter?

              As for the meter reading itself it’s going to depend on whether the inverter is connected to the gird, and if it is whether or not the inverter is set to grid export or only to provide as much power as the home is using at the time, possibly minus something for reactive power or some such.

  • blandfordforever@lemm.ee
    21·
    2 months ago

    Are there any good quality and relatively inexpensive microinverters for the U.S. grid? I’m affraid of the ones I see on amazon.

    • Sonori@beehaw.org
      3·
      2 months ago

      Plenty if you don’t want grid tied, otherwise your local utility probably has an list of the ones they’ll accept somewhere. There is a list of things an inverter will have to be certified to be able to meet for grid tied such as anti-islanding requirements, and in this case i’m afraid you’re almost certainly better off to be going with a reseller the inverter manufacturer actually recommends than playing Amazon roulette.

      From my understanding here it tends to be easier to just stay off the grid for very small systems, either by just plugging in a few panels to a battery and small dc to ac inverter(with appropriately rated fuses between all connections) or else getting an automatic transfer switch and treating the whole thing like a generator.

      That being said RVs and camper vans are a thing here, and there may be some more plug and play systems in that direction but small 12v systems are a bit out of my wheelhouse.