{"id":539805,"date":"2026-03-14T11:03:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T11:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/539805\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T11:03:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T11:03:34","slug":"the-diy-solar-revolution-is-coming-to-u-s-balconies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/539805\/","title":{"rendered":"The DIY Solar Revolution Is Coming to U.S. Balconies"},"content":{"rendered":"

This\u00a0story<\/a>\u00a0was originally published by\u00a0Canary Media<\/a>, an independent, nonprofit newsroom covering the transition to clean energy and solutions to the climate crisis. <\/p>\n

Last October, Reasons to be Cheerful covered the game-changing potential of balcony solar in Germany<\/a>. We are now republishing Canary Media\u2019s story to document how this solar technology is gaining ground in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Lauren Phillips\u2019 balcony just became a power plant. A very small, carbon-free one.<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, the attorney set up what may be the first plug-and-play solar panel in the Bronx. The\u00a0220-watt installation, which is secured to the balcony railing with zip ties, has been a\u00a0boon for the co-op apartment owner and mother of\u00a0two.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have an enormous childcare bill every month. My electricity bills never go anything but up,\u201d Phillips said.\u00a0\u200b\u201cEverywhere you turn, things are only getting more expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plug-in solar nonprofit\u00a0Bright Saver<\/a>, which provided the roughly $400\u00a0panel to Phillips at no cost, estimated that it will produce about\u00a015 percent\u00a0to\u00a020 percent\u00a0of the electricity her family uses and save her about $100\u00a0per year. Every time Phillips gazes at the device, she said, she\u2019s amazed that\u00a0\u200b\u201cthis is just a\u00a0thing that I\u00a0plugged in, and I\u2019m generating my own\u00a0power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phillips is one of the few intrepid Americans\u00a0installing\u00a0DIY\u00a0solar<\/a>\u00a0without the permission of their utilities, taking advantage of a\u00a0regulatory gray area. Only deep-red Utah has a\u00a0law,\u00a0passed<\/a>\u00a0in March\u00a02025, that explicitly allows residents to plug in these devices. A few thousand households there have installed systems so far, Bright Saver said.<\/p>\n

But other states, including New York, could soon follow Utah\u2019s lead and unleash much broader adoption of solar panels that plug into a standard\u00a0120-volt wall outlet. As of the end of last month, Democratic and Republican lawmakers in 28 states and Washington, D.C., have announced their own legislation to make these systems permissible, according to Bright Saver and other sources.<\/p>\n

As utility bills climb<\/a>\u00a0and contribute to broader cost-of-living challenges across the United States, legislators see the portable tech as an affordability tool. It literally empowers people, said New York Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, a\u00a0Democrat who in September introduced a\u00a0bill to pave the way for small-scale solar.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are extremely enthusiastic about it,\u201d noted Gallagher, a\u00a0renter who longs for a\u00a0plug-in system of her\u00a0own.<\/p>\n

An\u00a0800-watt unit that costs\u00a0$1,099<\/a>\u00a0is capable of powering a\u00a0fridge or a\u00a0few small appliances for a\u00a0sunny fraction of the day. That\u2019s enough power to reduce bills for a\u00a0New York household by\u00a0$279\u00a0per year<\/a>\u00a0on average, Gallagher said. Assuming utility costs continue to rise, those savings could increase to $327\u00a0per year by\u00a02035.<\/p>\n

Plug-in solar is already booming in Europe. As many as four million households<\/a>\u00a0in Germany have installed the systems, which people can\u00a0order through Ikea<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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But in the U.S., outside of Utah, the tech is stuck in regulatory limbo. While the systems aren\u2019t illegal, utilities often require users to sign an interconnection agreement before plugging in solar \u2014 just as they would for a large rooftop array. And those agreements can require fees and take weeks to months to get.<\/p>\n

Utah\u00a0did away<\/a> with that interconnection requirement, so long as a\u00a0nationally recognized testing laboratory certifies the solar device is safe to use. All the other legislation introduced since would do the\u00a0same.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe technology has evolved, and the law hasn\u2019t caught up yet,\u201d Phillips said. Putting up her own system might be\u00a0\u200b\u201can act of solar civil disobedience,\u201d she\u00a0mused.<\/p>\n

UL\u00a0Solutions\u00a0launched<\/a> an initial testing protocol in January, which a\u00a0panel of experts will refine in the coming months, according to Bernadette Del Chiaro, senior vice president for California of the nonprofit Environmental Working Group and former executive director of trade group California Solar and Storage Association.<\/p>\n

\"balconyLast month, lawmakers in 28 states and Washington, D.C. announced legislation to make balcony solar systems permissible. Credit: alexgo.photography<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a\u00a0real hunger for plug-in solar, said Cora Stryker, co-founder of Bright Saver. Momentum for these devices is growing faster than she expected.<\/p>\n

Some zealous legislators announced bills out of the blue, Stryker noted. A\u00a0few chambers even saw multiple lawmakers introduce plug-in solar bills independently of each\u00a0other.<\/p>\n

Missouri state Rep. Mark Matthiesen, a\u00a0Republican, sponsored a\u00a0DIY\u00a0solar bill in December. Electricity rates are climbing fast in his state; families who get a\u00a0system could save $30\u00a0to $40\u00a0per month and break even in as little as\u00a025\u00a0months, he\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, everything beyond that is money back in your pocket,\u201d said Matthiesen, who got rooftop solar panels in\u00a02024.\u00a0\u200b\u201cIf people can buy something to invest in themselves, to save them money down the road, then we as a\u00a0government just need to let people do\u00a0that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthiesen heard about plug-in systems last year from fellow legislators when they met up at the site formerly known as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. As for South Carolina state Rep. Mike Burns, another Republican who recently introduced a\u00a0balcony solar bill, it was a\u00a0passionate constituent who tipped him\u00a0off.<\/p>\n

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A few proposals, including those in Missouri, Washington State and Wyoming, have stalled. Some utilities have opposed legislation<\/a>\u00a0for permissionless systems,\u00a0saying<\/a>\u00a0there are safety risks, including from energy being fed back to the grid and potentially overwhelming its capacity.<\/p>\n

Advocates, however, say that this argument ignores the physics of electricity. Because these are modest systems, which proposals generally cap at a\u00a0size of\u00a01,200\u00a0watts (that\u2019s up to a\u00a0sixth the size of the typical rooftop array), a\u00a0home\u2019s appliances will quickly gobble up the power they produce, according to Del Chiaro. Very little, if any, energy will flow back onto the distribution grid.<\/p>\n

\"LaurenLauren Phillips points to her 220-watt plug-and-play solar panel in the Bronx. Photo courtesy of Lauren Phillips<\/p>\n

Balcony solar bills in\u00a0New Hampshire, Vermont<\/a>, New Jersey, and Illinois look on track to pass, according to Stryker. A\u00a0proposal in California<\/a> \u2014 a potentially massive market as the state with the second-highest electricity prices<\/a> and largest state economy in the nation \u2014 is in committee. Stryker anticipates that still more lawmakers will announce legislation for the up-and-coming tech this year.<\/p>\n

For Phillips, balcony solar is more than a\u00a0means to save money; it\u2019s a\u00a0step toward a\u00a0healthier future. She\u2019s a\u00a0third-generation native of the Bronx, an area\u00a0disproportionately burdened<\/a>\u00a0by noxious pollutants.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was actually hospitalized with an asthma attack last year,\u201d Phillips said.\u00a0\u200b\u201cFor me, anything that we can do to green our power grid, to reduce pollution, is a matter of justice \u2014 especially for people who live where I live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phillips has been talking to friends and family about her mini power plant.\u00a0\u200b\u201cEverybody wants one,\u201d she said. States simply need to pass their portable solar bills to open the floodgates, Phillips noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t wait to see solar panels peeking out of everyone\u2019s balcony.\u201d<\/p>\n

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