Post by @waldoj@mastodon.social

2026-07-21 02:58 UTC

Blog entry: We need something between a traditional home solar installation and plug-in solar. Imagine paying an electrician to install an inverter that connects to your electrical panel. You’d be left with a box on the side of your house, with a connection point for solar power. Then you, the homeowner, can plug a solar panel into that box. Or two or three or fifty solar panels. Permitting sucks, so let's reduce the footprint of what needs a permit. https://waldo.jaquith.org/blog/2026/07/beyond-plug-in-solar/

Replies (2)

@timmc@better.boston 2026-07-21 21:02

@waldoj@mastodon.social Do you think there would be room here for island-mode support? The thing that really bugs me about standard solar installations is that they stop working during a power outage, which is... kind of the opposite of what I want? Like, that's fine for people who just want lower electricity prices, but we're really leaving a lot of resilience on the table. I don't have a clear sense of where we could draw the line for "install this one object", though.

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@halfpress@mastodon.halfpress.com 2026-07-22 18:57

@waldoj@mastodon.social I'd love to see this. But the 50 solar panels example is going to also have to go up against AEP's limit of producing more than 110% of your yearly usage... at least when you have a net metering agreement. Our array couldn't be sized any greater than 110% of our prior year (or some average of recent years). If you're able to store or shed the excess without returning it to AEP, perhaps that doesn't apply. Be nice if they would take everything excess you can generate, though.

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