{"id":105091,"date":"2025-08-31T14:58:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T14:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/105091\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T14:58:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T14:58:17","slug":"plug-in-balcony-solar-panels-could-mean-cheaper-power-but-canada-needs-to-get-on-board-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/105091\/","title":{"rendered":"Plug-in balcony solar panels could mean cheaper power. But Canada needs to get on board first"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want\u00a0to lower your electricity bill and help power your home with\u00a0an abundant renewable energy source \u2014 the sun?\u00a0<\/p>\n

OK, maybe you don’t have\u00a0a rooftop where you can install $20,000 to 30,000 worth of solar panels,\u00a0get the permits and hire a\u00a0crew to put them in.<\/p>\n

But there’s a simple, affordable solution for people who own houses or condos, or\u00a0are renting an apartment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Plug-in balcony solar panels are\u00a0a do-it-yourself clean energy\u00a0solution that\u00a0not only help\u00a0power appliances and devices in\u00a0homes but lower\u00a0electricity costs at a time when the cost\u00a0of power \u2014 along with everything else \u2014\u00a0is rising.<\/p>\n

They’ve become\u00a0popular in Germany and\u00a0elsewhere in Europe, as well as in\u00a0the U.S. While these plug-and-play units aren’t\u00a0readily available in Canada, and could face bureaucratic hurdles in getting approved, solar energy proponents say there’s likely to be consumer interest and calls for Canada to get on board.<\/p>\n

“We’re about to find out what that pent-up demand is,” said\u00a0Phil McKay from\u00a0the Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA).<\/p>\n

WATCH | Swapping traditional energy sources for rooftop solar could cool the planet:\"\"<\/p>\n

What if we put solar panels on every roof in the world?<\/p>\n

Scientists set out to explore the impact of covering every rooftop on Earth with solar panels. Their research found that swapping traditional energy sources for rooftop solar could actually cool the planet \u2014 lowering global temperatures by up to 0.13\u00b0C.How do they work?<\/p>\n

You may have seen portable 100-watt solar panels at your local hardware store that you can take with you camping or to a cabin in order to charge your cellphone or other small devices.<\/p>\n

Plug-in balcony solar kits are somewhat similar, says Kevin Chou,\u00a0co-founder of San Francisco Bright Saver, which aims to bring this technology to a wider North American market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ThreeWorkers install racking to mount solar panels on the roof of a home in Calgary. (Jeff McIntosh\/The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n

The difference is that with balcony solar, you’re able to\u00a0power small appliances, lights\u00a0and other household electrical items from a lightweight panel you can install yourself\u00a0on\u00a0a balcony or the side of your home.<\/p>\n

A plug-in balcony solar unit that can generate up to 800 watts can cost between $2,000 to $2,300 US, but a 200-watt kit sells for as low as $400.<\/p>\n

As Chou explains, the\u00a0panels connect\u00a0to an inverter, much like your typical rooftop photovoltaic solar panels, except that it’s\u00a0much smaller and\u00a0plugs directly into a standard wall outlet.<\/p>\n

“It just pushes electricity into that plug at a slightly higher pressure than the rest of the electricity coming in from the grid, so that you’re using the electricity from your solar panels first,” Chou said.\u00a0Any unused power is absorbed\u00a0into the power grid.<\/p>\n

Some newer\u00a0and costlier\u00a0kits\u00a0also have batteries that can store electricity for later use.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Chou says the power from these systems isn’t significant\u00a0enough to\u00a0address all\u00a0your home energy needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Canada, the average detached home uses approximately 13,000\u00a0kilowatt hours of electricity per year, while an apartment or condo in a highrise building might use around 5,900 kWh\u00a0per year, according to Statistics Canada<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But depending on where you live and and your overall power costs, he says\u00a0balcony solar can shave some money off your monthly bill.<\/p>\n

In northern California, where Chou\u00a0lives, it can work out to $30 to $50 US off per month.<\/p>\n

LISTEN | Breakthrough solar energy projects\u00a0could\u00a0reduce fossil fuel reliance in remote North:<\/p>\n

What On EarthSweet solar silence in the land of the midnight sun<\/p>\n

Big in Germany<\/p>\n

Chou says he was inspired to try to develop a market for plug-in balcony solar units in North America following their success in Germany in recent years.<\/p>\n

Balkonkraftwerk, as it’s known in German (translation:\u00a0balcony power plant),\u00a0grew in popularity after\u00a0the country began to move away from its reliance on cheap Russian oil following its\u00a02022\u00a0invasion of Ukraine, which increased the cost of power for residents.<\/p>\n

Around\u00a01.5 million German homes<\/a>, many of them apartments, are registered as using balcony solar panels \u2014 although many more might be\u00a0unregistered.<\/p>\n

McKay says they’re\u00a0not contributing a huge amount of solar power to Germany’s grid, “but what it’s doing is impacting millions and millions of people’s homes” by saving as much as 30 per cent on power bills, according to some estimates<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Demand is now growing in Spain and some other European countries, while the U.K. government announced<\/a> last month it’s studying the potential for allowing balcony solar panels for apartments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ASolar panels hang from a balcony in a residential apartment building in Berlin on Aug. 18. New legislation introduced last year in Germany simplified the bureaucracy and permitting related to installation. (Sean Gallup\/Getty Images)A red state greenlit\u00a0balcony solar. Why not Canada?<\/p>\n

Germany’s Balkonkraftwerk success story also caught the eye of Utah lawmaker Raymond Ward, a Republican state representative who successfully passed legislation earlier this year to allow the use of plug-in solar panels, a first anywhere in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Given the political environment in the U.S. and divisiveness over climate change, it might come as a surprise that a red state like Utah is leading the charge.\u00a0Ward says it was a matter of offering residents an opportunity to save money, and his legislation gets “the government out of their way.”<\/p>\n

He says it wasn’t that plug-and-play solar units\u00a0were\u00a0prohibited, but rather that the regulations only covered rooftop solar panel systems, which\u00a0weren’t allowed to be plugged directly into an existing electrical system and had a contract with the local utility.<\/p>\n

“That makes sense if you’re going to cover your whole roof with them and expect the utility to pay you some money for that power,” Ward said.\u00a0“But it doesn’t make sense if you’re just buying something little and plugging it in and not asking [the utility] for anything.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Utilities got on board, he says, once they realized they wouldn’t have to compensate customers for the power they were generating.<\/p>\n

\"AThe app controller for a newly installed plug-in solar power kit is shown at a home in Houston, Texas, on Aug. 5. (David J. Phillip\/The Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Part of the challenge, he said, was\u00a0certification.\u00a0The units,\u00a0as a whole, are not UL-certified, the standard certification for electronics in the U.S.\u00a0But the individual components are, which has given some companies the green light to sell their plug-in solar kits in Utah and some other parts of the country.<\/p>\n

UL is also recognized certification in Canada, but the Canadian Standards Association (CSA\u00a0Group) certifies most electronics for use in this country.<\/p>\n

CSA\u00a0Group confirmed to CBC News that balcony solar units “are not evaluated or certified as standalone products” and that “the complete plug-in configuration falls outside the scope of our current certification frameworks.”<\/p>\n

There’s also the challenge of getting provinces, municipalities and utilities on board.<\/p>\n

CBC News reached out to various provincial and municipal governments, as well as utility providers, and found\u00a0many had not yet considered the potential use of DIY plug-in solar panels or regard it as being similar to rooftop solar installations that require permits and licensed contractors to install.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alberta, however, could provide an opportunity. A spokesperson for the province’s Ministry of Affordability and Utilities says balcony plug-in solar technology\u00a0would fall under existing micro-generation regulation<\/a>, which allows generators capable of producing less than 150 kilowatts of electricity to be connected to the grid.<\/p>\n

WATCH | Concerns about unfair pricing, pressure tactics in Canada’s solar industry:\"\"<\/p>\n

Solar panel customer feels ‘betrayed’ by unfair pricing<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s solar industry is growing rapidly, but as more Canadians consider buying renewable solutions, complaints are rising about high pressure tactics and unfair pricing by some sales people.Better integration<\/p>\n

Liam O’Brien, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, sees value in giving people\u00a0a “tangible connection” to energy resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But balcony plug-in solar isn’t necessarily the solution\u00a0he’d like to see.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AAn apartment block in Toronto got new balcony railings that are also solar panels, made locally by Mitrex, that will generate electricity for tenants. (Submitted by Mitrex)<\/p>\n

He’s more in favour of solar being integrated into buildings when they’re constructed or renovated \u2014 something that’s happened in some places\u00a0in Canada, including\u00a0an apartment building in Toronto<\/a> and at a student residence at Halifax’s Saint Mary’s University<\/a>.<\/p>\n

O’Brien\u00a0says integrating solar panels into construction not only centralizes the power generation but addresses any safety concerns around people affixing panels to their balconies themselves.<\/p>\n

It’s also a better use of space, he says, and could save developers money on other material costs while offering a cheaper power source\u00a0to residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WATCH | Halifax university campus boasts\u00a0tallest solar-integrated building in North America:\"\"<\/p>\n

Saint Mary’s University residence earns top solar honour<\/p>\n

The Loyola residence, the tallest solar-integrated building in North America, was recently honoured at the Clean50 Top Projects Awards. Molly MacNaughton has the story.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want\u00a0to lower your electricity bill and help power your home with\u00a0an abundant renewable energy source \u2014 the sun?\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-105091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}