My Lemmy Oracle
  • Communities
  • Create Post
  • heart
    Support Lemmy
  • search
    Search
  • Login
  • Sign Up
fuzzyfirefox@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.worldEnglish · 23 hours ago

Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them

www.npr.org

external-link
message-square
198
fedilink
484
external-link

Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them

www.npr.org

fuzzyfirefox@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.worldEnglish · 23 hours ago
message-square
198
fedilink
  • acosmichippo@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    edit-2
    21 hours ago

    Utilities must approve power export to the grid, even if you do the physical installation 100% off the books. It’s called “Permission to Operate”, which requires permits and passed inspections. You can’t just unilaterally add shit to the power grid.

    https://www.energysage.com/solar/solar-interconnection-what-you-need-to-know/

    • artyom@piefed.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      11
      ·
      22 hours ago

      According to my research, there is no such permit required in Utah. And presumably new legislation is looking to have this exception as well.

      • acosmichippo@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        21 hours ago

        not true, you still need to apply to the utility to export to the grid.

        https://www.rockymountainpower.net/savings-energy-choices/customer-generation.html

        And presumably new legislation is looking to have this exception as well.

        why “presumably”?

        • artyom@piefed.social
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          13
          ·
          edit-2
          18 hours ago

          Your link doesn’t mention anything about “balcony solar”. And these systems are not supposed to export to the grid anyway.

          why “presumably”?

          Because the whole point is to make solar easier and more affordable?

          • acosmichippo@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            7
            ·
            edit-2
            21 hours ago

            Your link doesn’t mention anything about “balcony solar”.

            “Application process for rooftop solar and other smaller systems”. If you want to export power to the grid from anything at all, you must go through this process. If you wanted to export power from a hamster on a wheel you must apply for PTO.

            Because the whole point is to make solar easier and more affordable?

            of course, but not at the cost of safety and grid reliability.

            • artyom@piefed.social
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              11
              ·
              edit-2
              8 hours ago

              Again, “other small systems” does not mean “balcony solar”. It could just mean ground-mount systems. Everything I’ve found says it’s not required. I challenge you to find the opposite.

              Effective March 2025, systems under 1.2kW are generally exempt from traditional building permits and utility interconnection agreements with providers like Rocky Mountain Power .

              Balcony solar is pretty much “plug and play.” Depending on the state/municipality/utility rules, users can install it themselves and don’t have to jump through all the permitting and contractual hoops or pay electricians in order to get it up and running like homeowners who install rooftop solar do

              https://cechouston.org/2025/10/21/balcony-solar-something-new-under-the-sun/

              E: downboats for facts, I guess

              • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                14 hours ago

                E: downboats for facts, I guess

                Downvote because you can be right and also be an asshole.

                • artyom@piefed.social
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  14 hours ago

                  What part of that did you interpret as me being an asshole?

                  • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    13 hours ago

                    A large portion of the comments in this thread are you arguing with various people. It’s needlessly combative and condescending.

                    You’re treating conversations as if they were conflicts instead of recognizing that you and the other party are simply misunderstanding each other.

                    You appear to know what you’re talking about, but you are a little too reddit-pilled in your argument style.

Technology@lemmy.world

technology@lemmy.world

Subscribe from Remote Instance

Create a post
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: [email protected]

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


  • @[email protected]
  • @[email protected]
  • @[email protected]
  • @[email protected]
Visibility: Public
globe

This community can be federated to other instances and be posted/commented in by their users.

  • 5.21K users / day
  • 10.3K users / week
  • 17.4K users / month
  • 30.9K users / 6 months
  • 1 local subscriber
  • 82.5K subscribers
  • 19.6K Posts
  • 821K Comments
  • Modlog
  • mods:
  • L3s@lemmy.world
  • enu@lemmy.world
  • Technopagan@lemmy.world
  • L4sBot@lemmy.world
  • L3s@hackingne.ws
  • BE: 0.19.5
  • Modlog
  • Instances
  • Docs
  • Code
  • join-lemmy.org