Are you interested in something like community solar? Visit brilliant.org/undecided to sign up for free. And also, the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual premium membership. If you liked this video, check out: Solar Panels Plus Farming? Agrivoltaics Explained ua-cam.com/video/lgZBlD-TCFE/v-deo.html
Why are you lying about that battery pack. lol. Sure, they technically "didn't sponsor this video" -- but you have a brand ambassador deal with them; so they pay you monthly. No one really minds about you getting money - that's fine. Just don't put them in your video with a thumbs up like an advertisement-- and pretend they aren't paying you on a regular basis.
Not sure this is smart. Solar cells are dirty (to make, they are ALL imported because of the dangers), and only outputs during a small one hour window during the day if not overcast. Further you need batteries for any consistency (another well understood dirty technology). Now, many power companies have started CHARGING you to feed back into the grid. Generally, it's a poor idea to push dirty power. Nuclear is the answer here. It's far cleaner and there are far fewer deaths associated with it.
Many 'green solutions' have environmental downsides, including solar, so their application needs to be well considered. Getting the most utility/function/practicality out of a 'green solution/decision' should be tantamount. Location plays a big part of that, as well as the why. Solar seems to make extra sense along the West Coast. Solar panels located at private residences, business and government offices add hugely to regional earthquake preparedness. It also works well in the face of the West's droughts and heat waves and their resultant effect on hydroelectric dams and rolling blackouts/brownouts. The West Coast lacks the tornados and hurricanes of many other regions, so panels are less likely to be destroyed by major wind events. Solar adds important localized resilience in the face of grid-down situations. Solar is smarter in isolated homes as they are often the first to lose electricity and the last to regain it. Supplementing via balconies or new solar carport roofs is workable in a good many other regions as well for running refrigerators/freezers for minimal survival needs . Finite money and resources makes ROI values important. We must act accordingly. Hopefully others see this as important as well instead of jumping on the all-solutions-are-good-solutions bandwagon...
My uncle just did a 32.7kw solar system on his property. It was all diy and he bought all the parts himself and made all the racks and supports himself. Cost him about 4500 because he got used panels and reused a bunch of materials. He only needed 16kw but he said it was cheap now and probably wouldn’t be in the future and he says that even as they degrade he will still be covered till the day he dies.
He's probably got 150+ panels, multiple chargers and inverters plus miles of thick copper cables! Then all the steel and fixture used plus hardware to secure all these together. Not to mention transporting all these material to his site. A rough estimation, I worked out he needed over 4000 sq ft of south facing roof space! Above all lithium batteries are over $700/kWh and he required a lot of batteries to store that sort of power. Your uncle is more of an illusionist! God bless all
@@soundslight7754 Not sure how the exact breakdown of costs is, but in 2016 we got an estimate for an 11kw solar system (the maximal residential installation allowable according to the solar company rep) and the cost was pretty high: around 40,000$ (give or take...could've been a bit higher even...like 42 or 44). The panels by themselves are not terribly expensive (a 300 watt panel could run 220 to 300$ back then), but add inverters (about 4k each) and everything else and costs add up. Not sure what the going rate for installation is. Maybe you have a better idea of cost breakdown.
@@soundslight7754 you need batteries for being fully independent. If it is not the goal - the public grid could be used as "battery" too. At day you selling electricity, at night buying and offsetting in such way a cost.
Matt.... I truly appreciate the upgrade to your content in having a portion of the video talking about the downsides. This is a long time coming and makes your videos feel far more even handed and informational instead of just sounding like a solar fanboy. Kudos!
Put 6 panels on the wall of my flat, generates enough to recharge stuff including my ebike. An unexpected benefit is the wall doesn’t get as hot, exposed wall a few weeks back was 43°C/109.4° whilst behind the panels it was 29°C/84°F.
@@HansKeesom not wired into the electrics I just charge Ecoflow power units & use energy for various devices, the way energy prices are going it might save money over time
One problem is when apartment management says you can't allow the solar panels, (among many other things), to be visible. They want to keep a uniform appearance to the complex. I do think apartment solar can be a good idea, as well as some of the other ideas in this video, especially those which are fully off grid. How do we get more people who set site standards to agree?
Over the past 6 months I've had to do a great deal of business travel. At one time I approvingly noted as solar projects popped up in a lot of spaces. These days what I notice is the vast amount of non-utilized space which would be ideal for solar installation. So many massive commercial rooftops capable of generating a lot of electricity. So many neighborhoods where not a single roof has solar panels. We're barely scratching the surface.
Thanks for the idea tho, I have a skylight at my home that's all glass and needs to be covered in the summer months. I think I know what to cover it with!
They do. They are called window shades and curtains? Open them during the day to receive heat in the winter and close at night to insulate. In the summer do the opposite. Nothing new under the sun (get ithe pun). But be careful about trapping too much heat between a shade or curtain and the window in the summer. Excessive heat may damage the window seals in double and triple glazed windows.
Yep, it's a super useful & practical idea. I've got a few smallish ICF PassivHaus designs which use solar panels above all the south-facing windows (which there are many, by design). This not only collects energy & blocks heat gain in the summer, but are placed at just the right height depending on latitude to allow full sun all winter to heat the floors inside for free thermal mass overnight.
As a renter, I tried getting into a community solar project 5 years ago--all but one in the area required a minimum 25 year contract. The one that didn't ignored all 5 of my attempts to contact before giving up. Ended up offsetting all my electricity use through wind via my utility instead; no money savings--generally paying a bit more--but at least no carbon footprint. Hopefully newer community solar projects suck less than they did--having more reasonable contractual terms and actually responding to people who're interested in joining.
Great video Matt, here in Ireland we are setting up a 100% community owned solar farm for our local community, we are looking at 6MW if possible. In Ireland, a 6MW solar farm will produce about 5,400MWh of electricity in the year. The government is considering a new scheme which will pay a floating feed in tariff for the community shareholders which guarantee a certain margin over capital costs and operating costs over a 15 year period. The main constraint here in Ireland is there grid infrastructure. In particular, there are not enough substations. It is great to see the Irish Government, in line with EU policy, encouraging community owned renewable energy generation, I would also like to see an emphasis on community owned energy storage and community owned substations. In relation to community owned substations, communities could be encouraged to pitch for their own substation, which would bring renewables, business and revenue into a local area. As the saying goes, 'Build it and they will come'. The profits generated from the substation could be given back to local residents in the form of discounts on their electricity bills. Same goes for profits from local generation and storage.
I think a great spot for solar would be on top of schools. They are big buildings, usually have flat roofs and only need a lot of power during the day. Plus in the summertime when electricity demand for AC in the community is high, they are using way less power.
Once you connect to the grid it doesn't really matter when or how you use power--except whether you can sell power to the grid at the optimal times. This seems to be a major misunderstanding about personal solar. The point is to sell solar power to the electrical company.
Love your work Matt, Major issue not covered in your balcony discussion is ‘islanding’. This is where solar power from the home is pushed back into the grid. Electrical companies can shut off mains and believe the power to your home is off, but there is still power. This can lead to serious injury or even death of the workers. People will need to install an ‘anti-islanding’ switch to prevent power flowing from the house back to the grid. This generally needs to be done by a sparky which isn’t cheap. Anyone thinking of plugging solar into their home power system should ideally consult a professional before doing so.
We live in Texas and you can purchase electricity from any provider. Our city of Georgetown has purchased a windfarm and solar system. They allow people to purchase their electricity from them. We definitely do.
I've got a Bluetti setup. Love Eco flow too. Both have been amazing as a renter to save us in power outage days due to fire season. Then with the ability to have the AC200 be portable, it'll make for a fun camping setup too.
I have plug and play setup. In CA. Pge will not net meter, not let the meter run backwards unless the system is inspected and permitted. Oakland does not permit plug and play.
I worked for a solar install in MA and RI, and we would offer community solar through a partner organization. The main problem seemed to be that state set caps for community solar would get used up faster than it took for a new project to get developed
Here in Spain 2 companies come to mind: - Tornasol energy for balcony panels (pretty much the same tech as shown, I'm pretty sure they might have come from the same factory in China), which as you say, are subject to regulations which make them less attractive (specially if you want to sell to the grid). - SolarPack for a company based community panel solution, wrapped with a "savings battery" to offset the night comsumption. As we have plenty of sun (excluding the northern regions) national renewable production is growing quickly, and altering the economics of the system. It is now cheaper to consume during the day (even with factory consumption) than during the night, were people would benefit from cheaper prices for EV charging, for example. I expect to see big changes in the coming years.
I have 2 panels in my balcony. One 100w rigid with aluminium frame and a foldable camping portable one, both hooked to an ecoflow river max and I get some energy. It is enough to keep everything charged up and depending on whether it is summer or winter, sometimes I can power my fridge over night or get coffe and toast on solar energy in the morning. It is not much but it is helpful.
Those flexible panels - I read they were originally going to be HUGELY cheaper than hard panels, albeit not as efficient but I think this offset still makes them worth it. They are a gap product which can fit into scenarios where you can't go "all out" for hard panels; better to have a moderately efficient solution that exists than nothing at all? I'd love to see products that you can stick on your balcony sides or in windows (also giving you much needed shade to reduce ingress of sun heating your house up in summer too). If it were a homogenised product that simply plugged into a mains plug as was shown in one of the clips I think it'd go crazy in the market, especially in places like Australia with ever so slightly high amounts of sunlight and power that costs three times what it does in Canada.
@@RR-or5ip how bad are they, is this a technology thing or is it just due to cheap manufacture? Either way that could be several years of power generation otherwise not had or not available. That gap needs to be filled, a stepping stone as it were.
@@davocc2405 The plastic degrades and delaminates in the sun. Rigid glass panels on aluminum frames are actually cheaper per watt and should last 20-30 years, flexible maybe 5 years. Will Prowse's channel is a good source of information for DIY solar.
@@Samuel-ks5gv I wonder if it is an inherent fault with plastic they have to use or if they are just using poor plastics in the first place... There are a lot of advantages with the plastic for weight and mounting, you can't strap a glass panel to a side (or even bolt it legally) as it could come off in a storm and kill someone if it falls far enough. I still remember in Australia seeing a wicker lounge bed that smashed a Ute (smaller version of a pickup truck) when it landed on top, it was picked up in a storm and thrown off a high rise apartment block next to our office. This ute was totalled, thank God noone was in it at the time
With Europe going though its highest cost of electricity ever, I've just added 3.5kw of solar to my garden using used solar panels. Using used panels halved the cost and doing a garden install, I was able to make & fit everything myself, bringing the cost of a 3.5kw solar system (with a new inverter for peace of mind) to around £1500 ($1650) and with the current high costs (37p/40c per kwh), I expect payback will be in less than 2 years. I don't understand why more people aren't using used panels as they literally save a fortune compared to new
I agree with that assessment. One question though is how old are those used panels. Since solar panels have a slowly diminishing output through their expected 25 year lifespan, the price should ideally be prorated to how much of that 25 year life is remaining when you buy them.
@@JayOyster the 25 year lifespan means the panels will still produce 80% at 25 years old, the ones I bought are less than 5 years old, solar farms replace panels much more frequently, every 5-10 years usually. Panels at 25 years will still be producing at least 80% and will be well paid back by then
the solar boom in europe is crazy high now. everyone who can shows the middle finger to his electricity provider. next year in summer we will have quite an over production from solar power that lowers the electricity prices at the stock market. at least for 8 to 10 months a year.
@@robinherrick2177 solar farms replace panels frequently if they suffer a storm or a new type of panel comes out. Lots listed on eBay, Marketplace, Gumtree (cragislist) etc
I belong to Nexamp community solar here in MA. It takes a while to get set up, and the billing is a little complex, but you save about 12% over just buying electricity from your regular provider, and it's green.
@@stefanweilhartner4415 Right, it wouldn’t make any sense to put up a fence so that you could use solar. But if you already have one just sitting there…
Thanks for the information here. I recently got an EV and wanted to find a solution to charge it off solar without getting anything integrated into the house. I was looking at solar panels with a solar generator but a grid-tied solution seems much better.
In California and more precisely in the Bay Area solar or wind is achieved through the regular electricity provider, PG&E. I choose to pay a bit more per KWh and PG&E must install enough solar and wind to compensate my usage. So I am 100% solar/wind even though I rent my place. The more people do it the more solar there will be. This is all by law from the government, which as usual is what really make things change. BTW Utility scale solar is even more efficient and economical than community solar.
I have a ~$1000 balcony setup that gets 210W max with 7 100W ($50) panels wired in parallel facing Southwest, connected to my Ecoflow Delta 2 ($600). This powers everything except my A/C, ceiling fans and appliances. Once the battery runs out it defaults to grid power. If I ever have excess energy I manually charge a large Lifepo4 battery bank for outages.
Every flat roof of warehouses, schools and shopping malls should be covered with solar panels of some sort. Especially in the Southern United States. It should be a building code requirement.
A very good explanation of how solar systems work. I live in Thailand and am getting ready to build a house and because of the area our land is we can't get power and will have to learn how to live on solar. The building itself is made of metal and will have a roof of 30 by 60 meters so I will have no problem putting lots of panels up.
The balcony solar is a neat idea, but people should be aware that it may not be safe or legal depending on the electrical code in their area. Charging a battery - sure, but plugging into your standard outlet to pass through the power most likely not
Yes that is correct. It wouldn't be legal anywhere, or safe, as you would have a plug top with exposed terminals at mains voltage, as well as the inverter being out of phase with grid mains. The grid operator would and should disconnect any idiot doing something like that
there are a lot of inverters available that synchronizes to the grid. it is almost standard in the EU. the law in austria allows to put a maximum of 800W into your grid-tied household wall socket without the need of any permission of your electricity provider. just a registration is theoretically required.
Grid tie inverters don’t output any power unless grid power is connected. Built in islanding protection, and no live exposed leads. It still may not be allowed according to your local code.
@@stefanweilhartner4415 the issue is that this is a small system similar in size to something offgrid like a boat or caravan, and most charge controller/inverters of this size are not designed ,or capable of being grid tied. If people think it's safe to buy a cheaper system like that, then fit a plug top on and connect it into their socket, they need think again. It isn't safe or legal anywhere. Aside from that, even if you had a grid tied inverter, and it did meet the regulations, and you had authorisation from the operator to connect it, it would still need it's own dedicated circuit, with it's own isolation, and a meter between that and the fuse board. Plugging into an existing circuit would create an issue where you couldn't isolate it from a single point which is is never safe electrically.
@@snazzy5844 I think you are right (just based on what I learned in our own rooftop setup). Also if you did get it set up correctly, the pay back on a smaller system may not be worth the cost or effort, except as a small gesture for carbon neutrality.
In areas were grid tied solar is discouraged, an electrician can put in a generator master panel. With a battery solar system providing the input a few circuits could be powered off solar and the overall power grid provides power to fewer circuits. The generator master panel can switch to grid power when needed. The resisting utility see's reduction in power supplied to house with no input to their grid applying pressure to allow grid connection.
Low income residents don't need to install solar to get cheap electricity if 25% of other home owners install rooftop. When this happens like in WA and SA utilties will offer super off peak prices to use up the excess. For example in WA you can get 8c AUD (5c USD) for the hours 9am to 3pm per kwh. If you can shift your electricity usage to those hours it's practically free.
IF YOU ARE POOR. Solar panels: 5 to 10 watt panels can charge your electronics and run LED lights. They are about $25. 50 watt panels would also run a small fan or a heating pad and are about $50. The battery that quit cranking your car is usually good enough to stabilize the power from the solar panels to your inverter though don't depend on it to hold up overnight. While not ideal, small garden tractor batteries can be found for about $25 and would run a table fan for several hours but are not suitable for daily use because they would not last very long. However in an emergency it beats sitting in an apartment that is cold, dark and quiet.
All over the US there are rain detension basins that temporarily store rainwater to prevent downstream flooding. All of these basins could be used for solar in the same way that canals are being covered.
WE are installing solar at our home but the wait is months! I wish it were easier to install, I wouldn't have to wait on others. I love the independence that comes with generating my own power. Saving money is fine but not the main reason I am going solar.
There was a company in arizona that was doing this about 6 years ago but so many of them go out of buiness as fast as they show up. When I tried to contact them they were already out of buiness.
I realize that your channel is more interested in the "eco" side of solar, but a battery backup of some sort is absolutely ESSENTIAL for anyone that relies on a medical device powered by electricity (like a CPAP). A lot of people are sadly caught off guard when there's a power outage and they realize that the solar on their roof won't power a device that needs to be used overnight.
It's called, educate yourself! Now easier than ever thanx to the interweb! People who have absolutely no solar, need battery backup too, but I wonder how many actually have it? People on life extending medical equipment, should have battery back up, as well as alternate fuel generators. The typical backup used for a computer is nowhere near enough! That would only run an oxygen machine for about five minutes, give or take. No, they need something along the lines of a Tesla Power Wall.... Anybody getting into serious amounts of solar energy, will not need this information, because they already know it....
One problem people have with their CPAP machine is that they waste power by converting 12 volts DC to 120 volts AC and then back down to 12 volts DC to power the machine if you have a CPAP machine get a 12 volt plug for it and go directly to your battery an inverter looses power in the conversion process still don't know the difference between the ones sold by the manufacturer and the dealer is other than 300 dollars more maybe the manufacturer one has regulated circuitry I know they have a box between the cigarette lighter plug and the machine plug if it is then for most solar generators they have that built in and a regulated circuit can be bought on Amazon for under 50 $ so you can build your own
Since my house is oriented north-south, i do have 2 balconies on the sunny side. Sun is there for most of the day so it is an interesting option for me.
Finally our hard stuck renter issues are addressed. While a balcony plant will not make me anywhere close to net zero, it will be enough to be part of the solar revolution for starters. It's getting winter now but I think I should arrange for some panels to be setup by spring
Just a small addition to the Balcony Solar thing. Because the panels are plugged in behind your breakes it can theoretically overload your circuit without tipping a breaker. For example the Breakers "feels" the 15 A coming from the Grid (Which is fine because it's a 16 A breaker) but it doesn't know of the 7 A your Panel delivers and suddenly your circuit is overloaded and the cables in your wall could overheat and cause a fire. I actually don't understand how it is legal to advertise balcony power plants as "no prior knowledge required". With your tiny circuits in America a Balcony power plant installation without careful planning is basically a fire waiting to happen.
In my experience with small solar systems, solar suffers when placed behind glass windows. Glass blocks IR rays for example. Make sure your panels are hung outside.
I got obsessed with balcony solar after we got solar roof/powerwalls then went on vacation to Spain. Tour guide told me they can just plug into "normal outlet" and I was like wtf... I wonder about how powerwalls would handle one of those backfeeding from inside the house? Not worth the risk for just tinkering, but my solution would be to use a transfer switch at the breaker box and an off-grid system on a battery/solar generator to play with. Really cool to see these smaller scale systems develop. It seems like our friends who can't afford homes are the ones most passionate about going green.
Around here, you are not allowed to even hang stuff on the balcony like that. The city requires buildings to look even and similar and not a mix of dozen patterns, colors and designs.
Balcony solar is a cool idea.. Matt please pin this comment from an electrician? Anyone installing these please do a couple of things: 1. never use plastic cable ties (the heavy duty black ones are okay but will break eventually, the white ones will last less than a year in the sun). Please use stainless steel! 2. If you are feeding back into a socket via micro-inverter beware of wet areas as degradation can happen without many external signs and could potentially lead to a fire. they can also cause weird tripping of RCDs (GFCI etc depending on your location). 3. As a solar installer, look out for small shaded areas on panels, these can dramatically reduce the power output (shaded silicon becomes a resistor, dissipating much of the gained energy).
Just a warning for anyone considering doing this and connecting an inverter by plugging into your mains socket as some comments have suggested. Don't do it. It's potentially very dangerous, illegal and rightly against any regulations anywhere. Sockets and plugs are the way round they are so that the permanently live side is the socket recessed so you can't touch the terminals. Fitting a plug top to an inverter output would mean the exposed terminals of the plug top would be live. Also the inverter would be out of phase with the grid mains, so would likely have a higher voltage between the inverter and grid. For instance voltage between 3 phase lives is 400V or so, and even greater if your inverter is more out of phase. Grid tied inverters have to be authorised to be able to safely match grid phase for this reason.
that is not true. in the EU there is a law that allows you to do so. however, you need to have an inverter that supports a required norm which means synchronization to the grid and shutting off, if the connection to the grid is lost. almost any inverters in the solar shops support that. it is absolutely legal.
@@stefanweilhartner4415 if you had bothered to read to the end, than that is what I said/Please make some effort to read comments before replying. I am entirely correct that attaching any unauthorised inverter not designed to be linked to the grid is highly dangerous and illegal
Don't do it with the incorrect equipment. It's safe and legal with the correct equipment. I have a solar panel with built-in protection that just plugs into the house and lowers the bill by about 10 $15 a month and I read in the comment thread here that in Europe you can put up to 800 watts and through a plug. Check with your locality and make sure that the device is set up so it won't produce power when there is no power in the plug.
@@macmcleod1188 does this mean anyone plug if so get 2 or more if you have the space for panels just plug one in each plug in Europe with 240 volt setup it's easyer here we have 120/ 240
I just had a 10kwh solar system with battery (2x 7kwh) installed on my home through tesla. Cost was $37,000 with a tax credit of $11,000 making the cost to me about $26,000. The batteries themselves were about half the cost of the entire system. With our current energy prices I'm estimating a 20 year payback time, which would be hugely decreased (about half) if I didn't opt for the battery backup, but I like the idea of being able to be self sufficient and not pulling from the dirty grid is a bonus too. I know this comment isn't exactly on topic, but I just wanted to get my experience out to help others make decisions.
One thing to keep in mind is that some utility companies offer subscriptions into a solar array - but these often cost more initially and break even in a few years. That's what I found with Duke Energy in Florida - it will cost more upfront but in 5 years, I break even. After that, I'm saving money. It also depends on capacity, there has to be room available to subscribe to in the first place - and you might need to wait on a list while they bring more solar arrays online.
Balcony solar sounds like an amazing idea but can you elaborate on two things. 1 - Durability. 2 - Permitting. Does a thin plastic panel stand much of a chance of surviving 10 years exposed to the elements? If the doesn't, I'd imagine you wouldn't recover the upfront costs and would feed landfills without a net benefit. Can you legally plug a solar array into the grid without a permit in many places? Could you touch on where in North America and Europe it's allowed? I recently invested in roof top solar. I love the technology and appreciate all that I've learned through your channel. Balcony solar's just as interesting, but the images you showed make me worry that durability and long term benefit are being traded for convenience and price. Maybe (hopefully) I'm wrong?
Can't speak for entire Europe, but in Germany, it's allowed to simply plug in balcony solar up to 600W. It's not a lot, but you can also install more as separate system, meaning not connected to the grid. So if you put more panels and they go to battery backup, that should be fine. There is however some other limit on battery size per house. Germany, so everything is very restrictive. I expect rest of Europe allows more.
In Australia, what makes the cost of Solar Installation palatable to the average household is the Solar Rebate. However in the last year they've more than halved it, which barely makes the payback period the same as the practical Lifespan (5-12yrs) of average panels. I (in QLD) was fortunate to have installed a QUALITY mid range 13.32KW (5KW + 5KW in inverters) system just as the guarantee yearly rebate was disappearing. Got 15c/KW locked in for 1yr. Now I am barely getting 8c/KW, no guarantee which could be slashed anytime again. I am definitely going to setup a portable system, however as I am aware of 3 things that need to know, 1. The flexible solar panels are more prone to cell breakages and over heating. It is still best to get the old fashioned rigid/glass solar panels. 2. Types/configuration of panel cells, running in serial or parallel, most of the panels cells are running in serials (so do the panels), which means that if 1 cell has been shaded, the rest of the cells reduce their power to match. Obviously parallel cells panels cost a bit more. And to install Panels in parallel also required thicker cabling. 3. Panels-Battery match/combination. I can't remember the details, but if you have a 12V battery, there's no point to go beyond 180w panels as it won't charge the battery past that point. And it is best to have a 24v or better still 48v battery which can take higher solar inputs. The only catch is the higher price tags on the battery and the special converter.
I would be interested in something like this and I hope many others are too. The more we are getting together about this the better it will be for everyone involved. Also, for those communities who can, community agrivoltaics seems like a great idea (to me)
Thank you for the video. Really interesting stuff. Here in the Philippines I have been saving about $10 USD weekly on local transportation costs. I have a solar charging transportation project. Started out with a 4 wheel version e-bike, with a 200 Watt solar panel, and a MPPT boost charger controller. The setup is also my emergency power supply with the addition of a 60 volt DC to 240 volt AC inverter. I have been posting UA-cam channel uploads on the setup.
I have thought about Solar, but it seems like any savings are removed due to installation cost over-billing. Right now, essentially I'm just taking out a large loan, pre-paying my electric for 10,20 or 30 years. With the hopes that using best case scenarios actually works out. Most savings or rebates are paid in one way or another to the installer company right now, and i might or might not get any of it back over the next decade. The 3 times i had someone come by for a quote, i would have ended paying more for the initial couple years and then, once the assumed electricity price increase happens it would save money. The margins were very small, and as usual the calculations were based on best case scenario. I think it would help to talk cost in terms of cost per W or MW installed, that would make it easier to compare costs.
At the end of the day all power comes down to a price per kWh. Average kWh rate for utilities is roughly $0.16 in the U.S. Depending on which route you take (cash, financed or lease) you can determine what the solar price per kWh will be.
I've definitely been thinking of adding solar to my balcony to charge an Ecoflow battery that I would use during power outages. As I WFH, I'd use the battery to keep powering my modem/router, laptop and monitor; and having the portable solar array would just be a cleaner way to charge it.
I like the community solar idea, of course it does need space to scale with the number of members. May I suggest community battery storage along the same lines. There’s evidence (published by Mike Jack et al., OERC) that networks of 30 households effectively ‘smooth out’ individual load peaks. How about 33 households having a nominal 3kWh of storage, compared to each owning 7 to 10kWh individually? I would love to see your excellent critical skills applied to see the economics of this idea. Thanks. I agree about the addition of your pros and cons in summary.
What about solar panel as awning? Two birds, one stone. Yes, a bit more structurally complicated. As a landlord in Ontario I installed solar. The one property I really wanted solar awnings was downtown, second floor, facing south over asphalt and concrete. A lot of solar gain and a heat island. The city wouldn’t allow the overhead encroachment. But they’d allow a retractable awning on the main floor over the sidewalk. An awning gives you more area at a better angle.
Not a bad idea. Look into the header used to mount an awing. Female to the wall and male attached to solar panel. Adjustable arms attach to panel sides. This allows quick angle change but also blocks solar radiation entering through windows. Also it would work for side of homes facing east as well. The point is to lower usage and drop your regular power payment into a lower tier
Matt, great video! But why are you using EETs Videos without mentioning them in the video? They started in 2017 and are already a great option for balcony solar. Please consider adding them at least in your description.
Just bought a flat and it has a huge balcony facing east. I was wondering if there's any foldable solar which I can setup as curtains. Would LOVE to have something like that.
Good topic - youjust solved my quandry about portable solar that can double as emergency home backup with your info on Ecoflow’s inclusion of an built-in inverter. Problem solved for someone who wants both portable power and a bit of power for the household in power outages. One question: I have rooftop solar without battery backup (SunRun installed 2011) which stops supplying power in a blackout. Will Ecoflow conflict with the existing solar system when plugged in during a blackout to supply its power to the house?
I really wish youtubers would stop referring to these portable battery packs as 'generators', they generate nothing (well maybe a bit of heat when used).
I love the channel and I know that your focus is new cutting edge technology but maybe a future series could focus on a step by step process for solar on a state by state basis. Rebates and support programs
I love this video being a renter, I hope there is a way out of not paying for any future home, as people are homeless more now than before. Learning about earthships , have to have land, so something has to happen for the 👍🏻 good .thanks for the vid 👋🏻💜hello from Colorado
I'm a renter without a balcony, so my main options would be community solar, of which none exist in this area, window solar which as pointed out has negligible benefits for meaningful cost savings and appears to be more of a nifty gadget than a real contributor to energy sustainability and independence, and a solar generator with battery, though this video only really suggests it as a back up in case of blackouts, not something for daily use. We live in an area and home that would definitely benefit from installing rooftop solar, but therein lies the landlord problem.
In Kentucky the power company Kentucky Utilities is putting out a scheme to let users buy into a solar farm that will replace the fossil fuel burning plants. As we were moving I didn't look into it closely but it is interesting that they were doing it utility wide.
I’m super interested since my neighborhood lacks trees that might block the sun heating my roof, my roof rise/run would work for AL sun year around, and I could put it on two faces of my roof to really utilize PV panels all day. Add to that the Act extending the rebate/credit. Sign me up. Lol
I've seen these microinverters on Amazon, but some people say that they're not exactly legal. The ones I've seen immediately shut off of there's no grid power, which is likely the main concern. I would love to get some kind of verification about these because I really want them. Though I am currently doing a DIY solar shed with batteries.
I have solar panels on my front lawn. HOA tried hard to fight me but I've still got em. We need to stop being so hard on only roof mounting. It doesn't make sense.
Thanks for the video. Can you please put an instruction or process video for reusing an 'old' or 'car totaled but battery is untouched' EV batteries to convert into a home solar storage? Does it need a coolant to maintain a steady draw to power the A/C etc topics. Thanks.
God I would have killed for that balcony solar thing about 15 years ago.... Where I lived at the time had an insane amount of morning sun and heat coming in, on top of that my power bills for a 2 bedroom apartment (by myself) was more than a large 4 bedroom house with 6 people living there.
The US has tons of large, open parking lots. Honestly, the city I live in is mostly parking lots. I wish the government would just fund the cost of covering all of them with solar. It would provide tons of electricity while also providing shade for cars and people, as well as protection from rain and hail. And it would be a massive, nationwide project that would provide a lot of jobs. That's something I would gladly have my taxes go towards. It sounds very reasonable to me, so I can't wait for someone in the comments to explain to me why it's a terrible idea and should never be done lol.
Matt, are there any balcony solar companies in the US? WeDoSolar, priwatt and plugin energy all seem to be in Europe, and Yuma doesn't mention balcony solar on their website. Thanks.
The kits are nice but buying panels and a Microinverter yourself is way cheaper. I just bought around 300Wp of solar panels that I'll put on my balcony for my daily baseload. And I'm really curious how that'll turn out. It cost me about 400€ (ca. same in USD). A year ago this would've been a fun side project. With the prices for electricity we have now it should be paid for in little over a year.
Someone should put together community solar gardens. Community gardens with agrivoltaic arrays installed. Gardening in the shade will make gardening an even more attractive hobby .
There is a lawsuit in Alabama against Alabama Power for charging extra fees to customers which use solar technology. Hope the ruling is in favor of the solar users.
I am running a 100w panel in my window. It is leaning back on to a pull-down shade. It pulls 50w and I just bought another one to go next to it. I checked the temperature of the panel and it is 120f. my question is I don’t want to start a fire. How hot is to hot.
A quick Google said 59-95 is best, but they can get as hot as 145 in the summer, so I imagine you're ok. Of course that's all a quick Google, so it might not be the most accurate.
New built apartment buildings should be mandated to install space for wiring from the balcony to the breaker box with room for a smart inverter or battery around it. The moment we get slightly cheaper battery's and PV balcony solar will take off like crazy in higher price energy markets imo. And things like decent solar shades and more affordable inverters cant be far away. The fact you can easily take it with you when you move apartment's is a huge bonus. No way this wont be a thing. Bonus idea, pairing the battery with a small resistance heater during the winter to use all the extra PV power whenever the small battery is full as bonus heat stored in the apartment, existing thermostats adjusting accordingly
I'd guess that the community farms & balcony systems are simple grid tie and provide no power when the grid goes down. It's hard to imagine how a community system would work with batteries since the utilities do not want (or allow) anyone to feed the system when down - I mean, they could have the batteries and a transfer switch but, what's the point - who'd would get the power? It looks like the balcony systems are aimed at the "Every little bit helps" crowd, since a few 100 watts is probably not going to make a huge dent in your electric bill. Do you know what the payoff schedule for balcony systems looks like? Any idea if the balcony or community systems can take advantage of available tax credits?
With the updraft on a high rise apartments from what I could see zipties are way too light my sister lived in a high-rise apartment she hung some planters on the railing one day we came home to find them gone we thought the maintenance person had been sent to remove them but when we looked down on the main road and there was the dirt plants and what was left of the planters the updraft had lifted those 80 pounds planters up-and-gravity had done the rest
In Germany 11Mio out of 41Mio households with summer-autarky potential. Currently 1.7Mio ESS installed, growth rate 2021 200K/a, about 50 years togo. The rest 30Mio can do pseudo energy transition with balcony PV. Lol.
Dear Matt, congratulations on a great video! It would be very nice and would make us very happy if you could also mention us in the description, since you show our products in your video (01:46 and 10:09). We are EET from Austria ;-) Sunny greetings, Team EET
I looked into balcony solar. Unfortunately in Germany it's unfortunately very burocratic. You could just put up a guerilla system but would probably get in trouble with your landlord. If you don't wanna run in to trouble with your insurance company, you'll also have to install a special outlet to hook up to. That means you'd need a professional to install the system (at least the outlet) which adds a disproportionated costs to srtting one up.
Have not finished watching the video: but wish this was discussed more explicitly. The safety protocol is: 1. low power 2. inverter must synchronize with grid (and probably needs to be a full sinusoidal model) 3. inverter must automatically DISCONNECT from the grid in the event of a power outage. It is probably very illegal in most jurisdictions without explicit permission from the local power authority.
If you plug into a wall outlet then I would think this would only apply power to other items on that circuit. Otherwise won't it go to the grid and not your other appliances first? The net result is the same but the details are different. And I am honestly asking.
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Yes. Some apartments only have 1 phase though, ours did.
A panel or two won't produce more than you are consuming, so the fact that it/they are touching the grid, the energy produced will be used by you. The issue will be that these need to shut down during outages to protect lineman working on the lines during an outages. The micro inverters also need to synchronize their output wave forms with the utilities'. For these reasons it would be better to use these panels for things not connected to the grid, such as a solar generator, which is an all-in-one battery/inverter/power supply.
yes, during the day you put off the main switch delivering power from the grid and turn on the solar on. at night time, put off the solar and turn on the grid power. One switch can do both. that should not be problem because you are not connecting to the grid at all. Just check with the local electrician.
@@ralphbell1786 That's almost what I asked but not exactly. As a non electrician I don't know how much the different circuits interact. I know that they are not directly connected because if I overload one the breaker flips leaving the rest fine. In this case if you put the panels on the living room circuit/breaker will that electricity flow to the kitchen to feed the fridge or does it go to the grid and lower your electricity bill while the kitchen circuit continues using? The result is that your electricity bill is reduced but not because your panels went directly to your fridge. Or does the panel's electricity go back to the breaker box then to your fridge? It's a minor point but one that might matter.
The solar panels would back feed your breaker panel. If your fridge was the only demand at the time, it would use the power. However, the panels will likely only be producing a couple hundred watts and be constantly varying with sunlight. Your fridge alone would need more power and be consistent. These panels will only put a small dent in your overall need (like 200 watts out of 6000 watts).
Everyone needs hot water and it takes a lot of energy. Heating water is a safe way to convert locally-generated solar electricity into a practical form of energy. Then you don't have the risks and problems associated with feeding solar elec back into your home electrical network. If you're just making a little electricity it should just go into one energy need device in your life (water heater, e-bike, etc.). There's not enough that it's worth generalizing it.
Are you interested in something like community solar? Visit brilliant.org/undecided to sign up for free. And also, the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual premium membership.
If you liked this video, check out: Solar Panels Plus Farming? Agrivoltaics Explained ua-cam.com/video/lgZBlD-TCFE/v-deo.html
Why are you lying about that battery pack. lol. Sure, they technically "didn't sponsor this video" -- but you have a brand ambassador deal with them; so they pay you monthly. No one really minds about you getting money - that's fine. Just don't put them in your video with a thumbs up like an advertisement-- and pretend they aren't paying you on a regular basis.
Not sure this is smart. Solar cells are dirty (to make, they are ALL imported because of the dangers), and only outputs during a small one hour window during the day if not overcast. Further you need batteries for any consistency (another well understood dirty technology). Now, many power companies have started CHARGING you to feed back into the grid. Generally, it's a poor idea to push dirty power. Nuclear is the answer here. It's far cleaner and there are far fewer deaths associated with it.
Many 'green solutions' have environmental downsides, including solar, so their application needs to be well considered. Getting the most utility/function/practicality out of a 'green solution/decision' should be tantamount. Location plays a big part of that, as well as the why.
Solar seems to make extra sense along the West Coast. Solar panels located at private residences, business and government offices add hugely to regional earthquake preparedness. It also works well in the face of the West's droughts and heat waves and their resultant effect on hydroelectric dams and rolling blackouts/brownouts. The West Coast lacks the tornados and hurricanes of many other regions, so panels are less likely to be destroyed by major wind events.
Solar adds important localized resilience in the face of grid-down situations. Solar is smarter in isolated homes as they are often the first to lose electricity and the last to regain it. Supplementing via balconies or new solar carport roofs is workable in a good many other regions as well for running refrigerators/freezers for minimal survival needs .
Finite money and resources makes ROI values important. We must act accordingly. Hopefully others see this as important as well instead of jumping on the all-solutions-are-good-solutions bandwagon...
Agrisolar ? Most people ignore what it is
The problem is in uk council housing you can’t get grants to get solar panels
My uncle just did a 32.7kw solar system on his property. It was all diy and he bought all the parts himself and made all the racks and supports himself. Cost him about 4500 because he got used panels and reused a bunch of materials. He only needed 16kw but he said it was cheap now and probably wouldn’t be in the future and he says that even as they degrade he will still be covered till the day he dies.
He's probably got 150+ panels, multiple chargers and inverters plus miles of thick copper cables! Then all the steel and fixture used plus hardware to secure all these together. Not to mention transporting all these material to his site. A rough estimation, I worked out he needed over 4000 sq ft of south facing roof space!
Above all lithium batteries are over $700/kWh and he required a lot of batteries to store that sort of power. Your uncle is more of an illusionist! God bless all
@@soundslight7754 Not sure how the exact breakdown of costs is, but in 2016 we got an estimate for an 11kw solar system (the maximal residential installation allowable according to the solar company rep) and the cost was pretty high: around 40,000$ (give or take...could've been a bit higher even...like 42 or 44). The panels by themselves are not terribly expensive (a 300 watt panel could run 220 to 300$ back then), but add inverters (about 4k each) and everything else and costs add up. Not sure what the going rate for installation is. Maybe you have a better idea of cost breakdown.
@@soundslight7754 I don’t think that he did batteries, he’s probably just exporting to the grid.
Any idea who he got the parts from?
@@soundslight7754 you need batteries for being fully independent. If it is not the goal - the public grid could be used as "battery" too. At day you selling electricity, at night buying and offsetting in such way a cost.
Matt.... I truly appreciate the upgrade to your content in having a portion of the video talking about the downsides. This is a long time coming and makes your videos feel far more even handed and informational instead of just sounding like a solar fanboy. Kudos!
Agreed.
Put 6 panels on the wall of my flat, generates enough to recharge stuff including my ebike. An unexpected benefit is the wall doesn’t get as hot, exposed wall a few weeks back was 43°C/109.4° whilst behind the panels it was 29°C/84°F.
Very cool.
As you had a flat, did you have to deal with the owners organisation?
@@HansKeesom not wired into the electrics I just charge Ecoflow power units & use energy for various devices, the way energy prices are going it might save money over time
One problem is when apartment management says you can't allow the solar panels, (among many other things), to be visible. They want to keep a uniform appearance to the complex.
I do think apartment solar can be a good idea, as well as some of the other ideas in this video, especially those which are fully off grid. How do we get more people who set site standards to agree?
@@bcase5328 Indeed what I experience also in the Netherlands. Otherwise I would have like 4*2.5 meters space for them
Over the past 6 months I've had to do a great deal of business travel. At one time I approvingly noted as solar projects popped up in a lot of spaces. These days what I notice is the vast amount of non-utilized space which would be ideal for solar installation. So many massive commercial rooftops capable of generating a lot of electricity. So many neighborhoods where not a single roof has solar panels. We're barely scratching the surface.
'scratching the surface'. Nice pun!
It would be great if they produce standard window shaders that work as the solar panel in the same time. It would be useful in standard city flats...
Great idea.
Hey if there's already micro inverters that can be plugged right into a wall outlet that would be sweet....
Structural solar panels next!
Thanks for the idea tho, I have a skylight at my home that's all glass and needs to be covered in the summer months. I think I know what to cover it with!
They do. They are called window shades and curtains? Open them during the day to receive heat in the winter and close at night to insulate. In the summer do the opposite. Nothing new under the sun (get ithe pun). But be careful about trapping too much heat between a shade or curtain and the window in the summer. Excessive heat may damage the window seals in double and triple glazed windows.
It could be designed as a canopy in every windows or doors aside from balcony, above gazebo, cabana or pergola.
Yep, it's a super useful & practical idea. I've got a few smallish ICF PassivHaus designs which use solar panels above all the south-facing windows (which there are many, by design). This not only collects energy & blocks heat gain in the summer, but are placed at just the right height depending on latitude to allow full sun all winter to heat the floors inside for free thermal mass overnight.
As a renter, I tried getting into a community solar project 5 years ago--all but one in the area required a minimum 25 year contract. The one that didn't ignored all 5 of my attempts to contact before giving up. Ended up offsetting all my electricity use through wind via my utility instead; no money savings--generally paying a bit more--but at least no carbon footprint.
Hopefully newer community solar projects suck less than they did--having more reasonable contractual terms and actually responding to people who're interested in joining.
Great video Matt, here in Ireland we are setting up a 100% community owned solar farm for our local community, we are looking at 6MW if possible. In Ireland, a 6MW solar farm will produce about 5,400MWh of electricity in the year. The government is considering a new scheme which will pay a floating feed in tariff for the community shareholders which guarantee a certain margin over capital costs and operating costs over a 15 year period. The main constraint here in Ireland is there grid infrastructure. In particular, there are not enough substations. It is great to see the Irish Government, in line with EU policy, encouraging community owned renewable energy generation, I would also like to see an emphasis on community owned energy storage and community owned substations. In relation to community owned substations, communities could be encouraged to pitch for their own substation, which would bring renewables, business and revenue into a local area. As the saying goes, 'Build it and they will come'. The profits generated from the substation could be given back to local residents in the form of discounts on their electricity bills. Same goes for profits from local generation and storage.
I think a great spot for solar would be on top of schools. They are big buildings, usually have flat roofs and only need a lot of power during the day. Plus in the summertime when electricity demand for AC in the community is high, they are using way less power.
Once you connect to the grid it doesn't really matter when or how you use power--except whether you can sell power to the grid at the optimal times. This seems to be a major misunderstanding about personal solar. The point is to sell solar power to the electrical company.
Your schools have ac :O?
Love your work Matt, Major issue not covered in your balcony discussion is ‘islanding’. This is where solar power from the home is pushed back into the grid. Electrical companies can shut off mains and believe the power to your home is off, but there is still power. This can lead to serious injury or even death of the workers. People will need to install an ‘anti-islanding’ switch to prevent power flowing from the house back to the grid. This generally needs to be done by a sparky which isn’t cheap. Anyone thinking of plugging solar into their home power system should ideally consult a professional before doing so.
We live in Texas and you can purchase electricity from any provider. Our city of Georgetown has purchased a windfarm and solar system. They allow people to purchase their electricity from them. We definitely do.
I've got a Bluetti setup. Love Eco flow too. Both have been amazing as a renter to save us in power outage days due to fire season. Then with the ability to have the AC200 be portable, it'll make for a fun camping setup too.
I have plug and play setup. In CA. Pge will not net meter, not let the meter run backwards unless the system is inspected and permitted. Oakland does not permit plug and play.
I worked for a solar install in MA and RI, and we would offer community solar through a partner organization. The main problem seemed to be that state set caps for community solar would get used up faster than it took for a new project to get developed
Here in Spain 2 companies come to mind:
- Tornasol energy for balcony panels (pretty much the same tech as shown, I'm pretty sure they might have come from the same factory in China), which as you say, are subject to regulations which make them less attractive (specially if you want to sell to the grid).
- SolarPack for a company based community panel solution, wrapped with a "savings battery" to offset the night comsumption.
As we have plenty of sun (excluding the northern regions) national renewable production is growing quickly, and altering the economics of the system. It is now cheaper to consume during the day (even with factory consumption) than during the night, were people would benefit from cheaper prices for EV charging, for example.
I expect to see big changes in the coming years.
I have 2 panels in my balcony. One 100w rigid with aluminium frame and a foldable camping portable one, both hooked to an ecoflow river max and I get some energy.
It is enough to keep everything charged up and depending on whether it is summer or winter, sometimes I can power my fridge over night or get coffe and toast on solar energy in the morning.
It is not much but it is helpful.
Those flexible panels - I read they were originally going to be HUGELY cheaper than hard panels, albeit not as efficient but I think this offset still makes them worth it. They are a gap product which can fit into scenarios where you can't go "all out" for hard panels; better to have a moderately efficient solution that exists than nothing at all? I'd love to see products that you can stick on your balcony sides or in windows (also giving you much needed shade to reduce ingress of sun heating your house up in summer too). If it were a homogenised product that simply plugged into a mains plug as was shown in one of the clips I think it'd go crazy in the market, especially in places like Australia with ever so slightly high amounts of sunlight and power that costs three times what it does in Canada.
The flexible panels are crap and die off in a couple years
@@RR-or5ip how bad are they, is this a technology thing or is it just due to cheap manufacture? Either way that could be several years of power generation otherwise not had or not available. That gap needs to be filled, a stepping stone as it were.
@@davocc2405 The plastic degrades and delaminates in the sun. Rigid glass panels on aluminum frames are actually cheaper per watt and should last 20-30 years, flexible maybe 5 years. Will Prowse's channel is a good source of information for DIY solar.
@@Samuel-ks5gv I wonder if it is an inherent fault with plastic they have to use or if they are just using poor plastics in the first place... There are a lot of advantages with the plastic for weight and mounting, you can't strap a glass panel to a side (or even bolt it legally) as it could come off in a storm and kill someone if it falls far enough. I still remember in Australia seeing a wicker lounge bed that smashed a Ute (smaller version of a pickup truck) when it landed on top, it was picked up in a storm and thrown off a high rise apartment block next to our office. This ute was totalled, thank God noone was in it at the time
@@davocc2405 Dave, I do hope they figure out how to make flexible solar panels that last (if they haven't already). It's a much needed market.
With Europe going though its highest cost of electricity ever, I've just added 3.5kw of solar to my garden using used solar panels. Using used panels halved the cost and doing a garden install, I was able to make & fit everything myself, bringing the cost of a 3.5kw solar system (with a new inverter for peace of mind) to around £1500 ($1650) and with the current high costs (37p/40c per kwh), I expect payback will be in less than 2 years. I don't understand why more people aren't using used panels as they literally save a fortune compared to new
I agree with that assessment. One question though is how old are those used panels. Since solar panels have a slowly diminishing output through their expected 25 year lifespan, the price should ideally be prorated to how much of that 25 year life is remaining when you buy them.
@@JayOyster the 25 year lifespan means the panels will still produce 80% at 25 years old, the ones I bought are less than 5 years old, solar farms replace panels much more frequently, every 5-10 years usually. Panels at 25 years will still be producing at least 80% and will be well paid back by then
the solar boom in europe is crazy high now. everyone who can shows the middle finger to his electricity provider. next year in summer we will have quite an over production from solar power that lowers the electricity prices at the stock market. at least for 8 to 10 months a year.
Where do you get used panels and why are people selling them?
@@robinherrick2177 solar farms replace panels frequently if they suffer a storm or a new type of panel comes out. Lots listed on eBay, Marketplace, Gumtree (cragislist) etc
I belong to Nexamp community solar here in MA. It takes a while to get set up, and the billing is a little complex, but you save about 12% over just buying electricity from your regular provider, and it's green.
Balcony solar looks to be easily convertible into privacy fence solar, something I've long thought would be a good addition to roof solar.
Fence solar. Interesting. (Never thought of that before!)
@@RyanWilliams222 yes. because a fence without solar also costs a lot of money.
@@stefanweilhartner4415 Right, it wouldn’t make any sense to put up a fence so that you could use solar. But if you already have one just sitting there…
Thanks for the information here. I recently got an EV and wanted to find a solution to charge it off solar without getting anything integrated into the house. I was looking at solar panels with a solar generator but a grid-tied solution seems much better.
In California and more precisely in the Bay Area solar or wind is achieved through the regular electricity provider, PG&E. I choose to pay a bit more per KWh and PG&E must install enough solar and wind to compensate my usage. So I am 100% solar/wind even though I rent my place. The more people do it the more solar there will be. This is all by law from the government, which as usual is what really make things change.
BTW Utility scale solar is even more efficient and economical than community solar.
I have a ~$1000 balcony setup that gets 210W max with 7 100W ($50) panels wired in parallel facing Southwest, connected to my Ecoflow Delta 2 ($600). This powers everything except my A/C, ceiling fans and appliances. Once the battery runs out it defaults to grid power. If I ever have excess energy I manually charge a large Lifepo4 battery bank for outages.
Every flat roof of warehouses, schools and shopping malls should be covered with solar panels of some sort.
Especially in the Southern United States.
It should be a building code requirement.
It should be, but the southern state lawmakers are bought and paid for by oil barons.
*Especially **-in the Southern United States-** globally.* FTFY
I agree. And land use objections to solar are absurd until we run out of rooftop space and have covered every parking lot.
It looks be great if that happens but it should be a BUILDING CODE in EVERY STATE and CITY/TOWN. And every country.
Don't even get me started. Here in southern Italy sun hits for 11 months a year. Zero sola
A very good explanation of how solar systems work. I live in Thailand and am getting ready to build a house and because of the area our land is we can't get power and will have to learn how to live on solar. The building itself is made of metal and will have a roof of 30 by 60 meters so I will have no problem putting lots of panels up.
The balcony solar is a neat idea, but people should be aware that it may not be safe or legal depending on the electrical code in their area. Charging a battery - sure, but plugging into your standard outlet to pass through the power most likely not
Yes that is correct. It wouldn't be legal anywhere, or safe, as you would have a plug top with exposed terminals at mains voltage, as well as the inverter being out of phase with grid mains. The grid operator would and should disconnect any idiot doing something like that
there are a lot of inverters available that synchronizes to the grid. it is almost standard in the EU. the law in austria allows to put a maximum of 800W into your grid-tied household wall socket without the need of any permission of your electricity provider. just a registration is theoretically required.
Grid tie inverters don’t output any power unless grid power is connected. Built in islanding protection, and no live exposed leads. It still may not be allowed according to your local code.
@@stefanweilhartner4415 the issue is that this is a small system similar in size to something offgrid like a boat or caravan, and most charge controller/inverters of this size are not designed ,or capable of being grid tied. If people think it's safe to buy a cheaper system like that, then fit a plug top on and connect it into their socket, they need think again. It isn't safe or legal anywhere. Aside from that, even if you had a grid tied inverter, and it did meet the regulations, and you had authorisation from the operator to connect it, it would still need it's own dedicated circuit, with it's own isolation, and a meter between that and the fuse board. Plugging into an existing circuit would create an issue where you couldn't isolate it from a single point which is is never safe electrically.
@@snazzy5844 I think you are right (just based on what I learned in our own rooftop setup). Also if you did get it set up correctly, the pay back on a smaller system may not be worth the cost or effort, except as a small gesture for carbon neutrality.
In areas were grid tied solar is discouraged, an electrician can put in a generator master panel. With a battery solar system providing the input a few circuits could be powered off solar and the overall power grid provides power to fewer circuits. The generator master panel can switch to grid power when needed. The resisting utility see's reduction in power supplied to house with no input to their grid applying pressure to allow grid connection.
Low income residents don't need to install solar to get cheap electricity if 25% of other home owners install rooftop. When this happens like in WA and SA utilties will offer super off peak prices to use up the excess. For example in WA you can get 8c AUD (5c USD) for the hours 9am to 3pm per kwh. If you can shift your electricity usage to those hours it's practically free.
IF YOU ARE POOR.
Solar panels: 5 to 10 watt panels can charge your electronics and run LED lights. They are about $25. 50 watt panels would also run a small fan or a heating pad and are about $50. The battery that quit cranking your car is usually good enough to stabilize the power from the solar panels to your inverter though don't depend on it to hold up overnight. While not ideal, small garden tractor batteries can be found for about $25 and would run a table fan for several hours but are not suitable for daily use because they would not last very long. However in an emergency it beats sitting in an apartment that is cold, dark and quiet.
All over the US there are rain detension basins that temporarily store rainwater to prevent downstream flooding. All of these basins could be used for solar in the same way that canals are being covered.
WE are installing solar at our home but the wait is months! I wish it were easier to install, I wouldn't have to wait on others. I love the independence that comes with generating my own power. Saving money is fine but not the main reason I am going solar.
There was a company in arizona that was doing this about 6 years ago but so many of them go out of buiness as fast as they show up. When I tried to contact them they were already out of buiness.
I realize that your channel is more interested in the "eco" side of solar, but a battery backup of some sort is absolutely ESSENTIAL for anyone that relies on a medical device powered by electricity (like a CPAP). A lot of people are sadly caught off guard when there's a power outage and they realize that the solar on their roof won't power a device that needs to be used overnight.
It's called, educate yourself! Now easier than ever thanx to the interweb! People who have absolutely no solar, need battery backup too, but I wonder how many actually have it? People on life extending medical equipment, should have battery back up, as well as alternate fuel generators. The typical backup used for a computer is nowhere near enough! That would only run an oxygen machine for about five minutes, give or take. No, they need something along the lines of a Tesla Power Wall....
Anybody getting into serious amounts of solar energy, will not need this information, because they already know it....
One problem people have with their CPAP machine is that they waste power by converting 12 volts DC to 120 volts AC and then back down to 12 volts DC to power the machine if you have a CPAP machine get a 12 volt plug for it and go directly to your battery an inverter looses power in the conversion process still don't know the difference between the ones sold by the manufacturer and the dealer is other than 300 dollars more maybe the manufacturer one has regulated circuitry I know they have a box between the cigarette lighter plug and the machine plug if it is then for most solar generators they have that built in and a regulated circuit can be bought on Amazon for under 50 $ so you can build your own
Since my house is oriented north-south, i do have 2 balconies on the sunny side. Sun is there for most of the day so it is an interesting option for me.
Thanks Matt for sending me the link to this. It looks like the kind of thing I can do. Great.
Finally our hard stuck renter issues are addressed. While a balcony plant will not make me anywhere close to net zero, it will be enough to be part of the solar revolution for starters. It's getting winter now but I think I should arrange for some panels to be setup by spring
Every little bit can add up to a lot.
Just a small addition to the Balcony Solar thing. Because the panels are plugged in behind your breakes it can theoretically overload your circuit without tipping a breaker. For example the Breakers "feels" the 15 A coming from the Grid (Which is fine because it's a 16 A breaker) but it doesn't know of the 7 A your Panel delivers and suddenly your circuit is overloaded and the cables in your wall could overheat and cause a fire. I actually don't understand how it is legal to advertise balcony power plants as "no prior knowledge required". With your tiny circuits in America a Balcony power plant installation without careful planning is basically a fire waiting to happen.
In my experience with small solar systems, solar suffers when placed behind glass windows. Glass blocks IR rays for example. Make sure your panels are hung outside.
I got obsessed with balcony solar after we got solar roof/powerwalls then went on vacation to Spain. Tour guide told me they can just plug into "normal outlet" and I was like wtf...
I wonder about how powerwalls would handle one of those backfeeding from inside the house? Not worth the risk for just tinkering, but my solution would be to use a transfer switch at the breaker box and an off-grid system on a battery/solar generator to play with.
Really cool to see these smaller scale systems develop. It seems like our friends who can't afford homes are the ones most passionate about going green.
Sounds super dangerous!
I recommend
diy with will prowse
Renogy. 100w kit less than $200.
What i did to give my shed electricity.
Around here, you are not allowed to even hang stuff on the balcony like that.
The city requires buildings to look even and similar and not a mix of dozen patterns, colors and designs.
Balcony solar is a cool idea.. Matt please pin this comment from an electrician?
Anyone installing these please do a couple of things:
1. never use plastic cable ties (the heavy duty black ones are okay but will break eventually, the white ones will last less than a year in the sun). Please use stainless steel!
2. If you are feeding back into a socket via micro-inverter beware of wet areas as degradation can happen without many external signs and could potentially lead to a fire. they can also cause weird tripping of RCDs (GFCI etc depending on your location).
3. As a solar installer, look out for small shaded areas on panels, these can dramatically reduce the power output (shaded silicon becomes a resistor, dissipating much of the gained energy).
Just a warning for anyone considering doing this and connecting an inverter by plugging into your mains socket as some comments have suggested.
Don't do it. It's potentially very dangerous, illegal and rightly against any regulations anywhere. Sockets and plugs are the way round they are so that the permanently live side is the socket recessed so you can't touch the terminals. Fitting a plug top to an inverter output would mean the exposed terminals of the plug top would be live. Also the inverter would be out of phase with the grid mains, so would likely have a higher voltage between the inverter and grid. For instance voltage between 3 phase lives is 400V or so, and even greater if your inverter is more out of phase.
Grid tied inverters have to be authorised to be able to safely match grid phase for this reason.
that is not true. in the EU there is a law that allows you to do so. however, you need to have an inverter that supports a required norm which means synchronization to the grid and shutting off, if the connection to the grid is lost. almost any inverters in the solar shops support that. it is absolutely legal.
@@stefanweilhartner4415 if you had bothered to read to the end, than that is what I said/Please make some effort to read comments before replying. I am entirely correct that attaching any unauthorised inverter not designed to be linked to the grid is highly dangerous and illegal
Don't do it with the incorrect equipment. It's safe and legal with the correct equipment. I have a solar panel with built-in protection that just plugs into the house and lowers the bill by about 10 $15 a month and I read in the comment thread here that in Europe you can put up to 800 watts and through a plug. Check with your locality and make sure that the device is set up so it won't produce power when there is no power in the plug.
@@macmcleod1188 does this mean anyone plug if so get 2 or more if you have the space for panels just plug one in each plug in Europe with 240 volt setup it's easyer here we have 120/ 240
@@douglaswindsor120 don't know. I can plug up to 500 watts in with my 8 year old product.
Much more interested in community-owned efforts than private/corporate or the state.
I just had a 10kwh solar system with battery (2x 7kwh) installed on my home through tesla. Cost was $37,000 with a tax credit of $11,000 making the cost to me about $26,000. The batteries themselves were about half the cost of the entire system. With our current energy prices I'm estimating a 20 year payback time, which would be hugely decreased (about half) if I didn't opt for the battery backup, but I like the idea of being able to be self sufficient and not pulling from the dirty grid is a bonus too. I know this comment isn't exactly on topic, but I just wanted to get my experience out to help others make decisions.
One thing to keep in mind is that some utility companies offer subscriptions into a solar array - but these often cost more initially and break even in a few years. That's what I found with Duke Energy in Florida - it will cost more upfront but in 5 years, I break even. After that, I'm saving money. It also depends on capacity, there has to be room available to subscribe to in the first place - and you might need to wait on a list while they bring more solar arrays online.
Not sure why every storage facility in the US doesn’t have Solar on the rooftop. Such a great idea.
Why limit it to storage facilities? Why not every unshaded roof?
@@danielvivian3282 yes. many supermarkets and gas stations have a flat roof. perfect to install solar.
Balcony solar sounds like an amazing idea but can you elaborate on two things. 1 - Durability. 2 - Permitting.
Does a thin plastic panel stand much of a chance of surviving 10 years exposed to the elements? If the doesn't, I'd imagine you wouldn't recover the upfront costs and would feed landfills without a net benefit.
Can you legally plug a solar array into the grid without a permit in many places? Could you touch on where in North America and Europe it's allowed?
I recently invested in roof top solar. I love the technology and appreciate all that I've learned through your channel. Balcony solar's just as interesting, but the images you showed make me worry that durability and long term benefit are being traded for convenience and price. Maybe (hopefully) I'm wrong?
Can't speak for entire Europe, but in Germany, it's allowed to simply plug in balcony solar up to 600W. It's not a lot, but you can also install more as separate system, meaning not connected to the grid. So if you put more panels and they go to battery backup, that should be fine. There is however some other limit on battery size per house. Germany, so everything is very restrictive. I expect rest of Europe allows more.
@@MGL83 Neat. Thanks for letting me know!
Matt, here in the UK we have Ripple Energy who offer community wind farm ownership. One farm running now in Wales and one being built in Scotland.
In Australia, what makes the cost of Solar Installation palatable to the average household is the Solar Rebate. However in the last year they've more than halved it, which barely makes the payback period the same as the practical Lifespan (5-12yrs) of average panels. I (in QLD) was fortunate to have installed a QUALITY mid range 13.32KW (5KW + 5KW in inverters) system just as the guarantee yearly rebate was disappearing. Got 15c/KW locked in for 1yr. Now I am barely getting 8c/KW, no guarantee which could be slashed anytime again. I am definitely going to setup a portable system, however as I am aware of 3 things that need to know,
1. The flexible solar panels are more prone to cell breakages and over heating. It is still best to get the old fashioned rigid/glass solar panels.
2. Types/configuration of panel cells, running in serial or parallel, most of the panels cells are running in serials (so do the panels), which means that if 1 cell has been shaded, the rest of the cells reduce their power to match. Obviously parallel cells panels cost a bit more. And to install Panels in parallel also required thicker cabling.
3. Panels-Battery match/combination. I can't remember the details, but if you have a 12V battery, there's no point to go beyond 180w panels as it won't charge the battery past that point. And it is best to have a 24v or better still 48v battery which can take higher solar inputs. The only catch is the higher price tags on the battery and the special converter.
I would be interested in something like this and I hope many others are too. The more we are getting together about this the better it will be for everyone involved.
Also, for those communities who can, community agrivoltaics seems like a great idea (to me)
Thank you for the video. Really interesting stuff. Here in the Philippines I have been saving about $10 USD weekly on local transportation costs. I have a solar charging transportation project. Started out with a 4 wheel version e-bike, with a 200 Watt solar panel, and a MPPT boost charger controller. The setup is also my emergency power supply with the addition of a 60 volt DC to 240 volt AC inverter. I have been posting UA-cam channel uploads on the setup.
Very smart
Quick question- How will solidifying previously permeable balcony surfaces effect the wind load on the structure?
The battery plugged in the wall at 4:42 lmao
I have thought about Solar, but it seems like any savings are removed due to installation cost over-billing. Right now, essentially I'm just taking out a large loan, pre-paying my electric for 10,20 or 30 years. With the hopes that using best case scenarios actually works out. Most savings or rebates are paid in one way or another to the installer company right now, and i might or might not get any of it back over the next decade. The 3 times i had someone come by for a quote, i would have ended paying more for the initial couple years and then, once the assumed electricity price increase happens it would save money. The margins were very small, and as usual the calculations were based on best case scenario. I think it would help to talk cost in terms of cost per W or MW installed, that would make it easier to compare costs.
At the end of the day all power comes down to a price per kWh. Average kWh rate for utilities is roughly $0.16 in the U.S. Depending on which route you take (cash, financed or lease) you can determine what the solar price per kWh will be.
I've definitely been thinking of adding solar to my balcony to charge an Ecoflow battery that I would use during power outages. As I WFH, I'd use the battery to keep powering my modem/router, laptop and monitor; and having the portable solar array would just be a cleaner way to charge it.
I like the community solar idea, of course it does need space to scale with the number of members. May I suggest community battery storage along the same lines. There’s evidence (published by Mike Jack et al., OERC) that networks of 30 households effectively ‘smooth out’ individual load peaks. How about 33 households having a nominal 3kWh of storage, compared to each owning 7 to 10kWh individually? I would love to see your excellent critical skills applied to see the economics of this idea. Thanks. I agree about the addition of your pros and cons in summary.
What about solar panel as awning? Two birds, one stone. Yes, a bit more structurally complicated. As a landlord in Ontario I installed solar. The one property I really wanted solar awnings was downtown, second floor, facing south over asphalt and concrete. A lot of solar gain and a heat island. The city wouldn’t allow the overhead encroachment. But they’d allow a retractable awning on the main floor over the sidewalk. An awning gives you more area at a better angle.
Not a bad idea. Look into the header used to mount an awing. Female to the wall and male attached to solar panel. Adjustable arms attach to panel sides. This allows quick angle change but also blocks solar radiation entering through windows. Also it would work for side of homes facing east as well. The point is to lower usage and drop your regular power payment into a lower tier
The interesting thing about balcony-solar is that it generates electricity at the right times of day.
Matt, great video! But why are you using EETs Videos without mentioning them in the video? They started in 2017 and are already a great option for balcony solar. Please consider adding them at least in your description.
Just bought a flat and it has a huge balcony facing east. I was wondering if there's any foldable solar which I can setup as curtains. Would LOVE to have something like that.
Good topic - youjust solved my quandry about portable solar that can double as emergency home backup with your info on Ecoflow’s inclusion of an built-in inverter. Problem solved for someone who wants both portable power and a bit of power for the household in power outages.
One question: I have rooftop solar without battery backup (SunRun installed 2011) which stops supplying power in a blackout. Will Ecoflow conflict with the existing solar system when plugged in during a blackout to supply its power to the house?
I really wish youtubers would stop referring to these portable battery packs as 'generators', they generate nothing (well maybe a bit of heat when used).
They Generate 120V/240V AC from DC batteries
I can't imagine any rental unit I have ever lived in would be ok with balcony solar. Most often frowned on simple furniture or plants.
And its a thumb down right at the time when "grid tie" is done with suicide cable.
In the UK, Ripple are implementing Co-operative windfarms, solar farms and other renewable energy options.
I love the channel and I know that your focus is new cutting edge technology but maybe a future series could focus on a step by step process for solar on a state by state basis. Rebates and support programs
8:00 wow, you pronounced Canberra correctly, thank you!
I love this video being a renter, I hope there is a way out of not paying for any future home, as people are homeless more now than before. Learning about earthships , have to have land, so something has to happen for the 👍🏻 good .thanks for the vid 👋🏻💜hello from Colorado
I'm a renter without a balcony, so my main options would be community solar, of which none exist in this area, window solar which as pointed out has negligible benefits for meaningful cost savings and appears to be more of a nifty gadget than a real contributor to energy sustainability and independence, and a solar generator with battery, though this video only really suggests it as a back up in case of blackouts, not something for daily use. We live in an area and home that would definitely benefit from installing rooftop solar, but therein lies the landlord problem.
In Kentucky the power company Kentucky Utilities is putting out a scheme to let users buy into a solar farm that will replace the fossil fuel burning plants. As we were moving I didn't look into it closely but it is interesting that they were doing it utility wide.
I’m super interested since my neighborhood lacks trees that might block the sun heating my roof, my roof rise/run would work for AL sun year around, and I could put it on two faces of my roof to really utilize PV panels all day. Add to that the Act extending the rebate/credit. Sign me up. Lol
I've seen these microinverters on Amazon, but some people say that they're not exactly legal. The ones I've seen immediately shut off of there's no grid power, which is likely the main concern. I would love to get some kind of verification about these because I really want them.
Though I am currently doing a DIY solar shed with batteries.
If in doubt ask your power company. They will find out about the back-feeding within a month anyway (when the smart meter tattles on you).
Hi Matt. I don't know if you heard about solar shingles but I think it's a good idea. What do you think? like GAF solar shingles for example.
5K to save 3 bucks per month in electricity. Terrific
I have solar panels on my front lawn. HOA tried hard to fight me but I've still got em. We need to stop being so hard on only roof mounting. It doesn't make sense.
Thanks for the video. Can you please put an instruction or process video for reusing an 'old' or 'car totaled but battery is untouched' EV batteries to convert into a home solar storage? Does it need a coolant to maintain a steady draw to power the A/C etc topics. Thanks.
It would be so much easier if the government Putz a solar roof aquirement for new buildings in the building code :)
the balcony solar panel is an excellent idea; I am going to try it out.
God I would have killed for that balcony solar thing about 15 years ago.... Where I lived at the time had an insane amount of morning sun and heat coming in, on top of that my power bills for a 2 bedroom apartment (by myself) was more than a large 4 bedroom house with 6 people living there.
The US has tons of large, open parking lots. Honestly, the city I live in is mostly parking lots. I wish the government would just fund the cost of covering all of them with solar. It would provide tons of electricity while also providing shade for cars and people, as well as protection from rain and hail. And it would be a massive, nationwide project that would provide a lot of jobs. That's something I would gladly have my taxes go towards.
It sounds very reasonable to me, so I can't wait for someone in the comments to explain to me why it's a terrible idea and should never be done lol.
Matt, are there any balcony solar companies in the US? WeDoSolar, priwatt and plugin energy all seem to be in Europe, and Yuma doesn't mention balcony solar on their website. Thanks.
The kits are nice but buying panels and a Microinverter yourself is way cheaper.
I just bought around 300Wp of solar panels that I'll put on my balcony for my daily baseload. And I'm really curious how that'll turn out. It cost me about 400€ (ca. same in USD).
A year ago this would've been a fun side project. With the prices for electricity we have now it should be paid for in little over a year.
Someone should put together community solar gardens. Community gardens with agrivoltaic arrays installed. Gardening in the shade will make gardening an even more attractive hobby .
There is a lawsuit in Alabama against Alabama Power for charging extra fees to customers which use solar technology. Hope the ruling is in favor of the solar users.
I am running a 100w panel in my window. It is leaning back on to a pull-down shade. It pulls 50w and I just bought another one to go next to it. I checked the temperature of the panel and it is 120f. my question is I don’t want to start a fire. How hot is to hot.
A quick Google said 59-95 is best, but they can get as hot as 145 in the summer, so I imagine you're ok.
Of course that's all a quick Google, so it might not be the most accurate.
I am looking forward to hear of this project of yours.
Sounds promissing. :-)
New built apartment buildings should be mandated to install space for wiring from the balcony to the breaker box with room for a smart inverter or battery around it. The moment we get slightly cheaper battery's and PV balcony solar will take off like crazy in higher price energy markets imo. And things like decent solar shades and more affordable inverters cant be far away. The fact you can easily take it with you when you move apartment's is a huge bonus. No way this wont be a thing. Bonus idea, pairing the battery with a small resistance heater during the winter to use all the extra PV power whenever the small battery is full as bonus heat stored in the apartment, existing thermostats adjusting accordingly
I'd guess that the community farms & balcony systems are simple grid tie and provide no power when the grid goes down.
It's hard to imagine how a community system would work with batteries since the utilities do not want (or allow) anyone to feed the system when down - I mean, they could have the batteries and a transfer switch but, what's the point - who'd would get the power?
It looks like the balcony systems are aimed at the "Every little bit helps" crowd, since a few 100 watts is probably not going to make a huge dent in your electric bill. Do you know what the payoff schedule for balcony systems looks like?
Any idea if the balcony or community systems can take advantage of available tax credits?
Math , my own language N.L. appeared at the bottom of the screen by itself , thats how i know your work , thorough and to the point !
With the updraft on a high rise apartments from what I could see zipties are way too light my sister lived in a high-rise apartment she hung some planters on the railing one day we came home to find them gone we thought the maintenance person had been sent to remove them but when we looked down on the main road and there was the dirt plants and what was left of the planters the updraft had lifted those 80 pounds planters up-and-gravity had done the rest
In Germany 11Mio out of 41Mio households with summer-autarky potential. Currently 1.7Mio ESS installed, growth rate 2021 200K/a, about 50 years togo. The rest 30Mio can do pseudo energy transition with balcony PV. Lol.
Dear Matt,
congratulations on a great video! It would be very nice and would make us very happy if you could also mention us in the description, since you show our products in your video (01:46 and 10:09). We are EET from Austria ;-)
Sunny greetings,
Team EET
What about Solar sun tracking mount? you gain 40% more energy and don't need as many panels for the wattage output.
I looked into balcony solar. Unfortunately in Germany it's unfortunately very burocratic. You could just put up a guerilla system but would probably get in trouble with your landlord. If you don't wanna run in to trouble with your insurance company, you'll also have to install a special outlet to hook up to. That means you'd need a professional to install the system (at least the outlet) which adds a disproportionated costs to srtting one up.
I live in Karachi Pakistan I like your comments
What is the safety protocol to prevent plug in balcony systems from back feeding into the grid during an outage?
Have not finished watching the video: but wish this was discussed more explicitly.
The safety protocol is:
1. low power
2. inverter must synchronize with grid (and probably needs to be a full sinusoidal model)
3. inverter must automatically DISCONNECT from the grid in the event of a power outage.
It is probably very illegal in most jurisdictions without explicit permission from the local power authority.
In Europe, Bureaucracy is getting in the way of community solar roll out! Needs support to make it easy to invest!
If you plug into a wall outlet then I would think this would only apply power to other items on that circuit. Otherwise won't it go to the grid and not your other appliances first? The net result is the same but the details are different. And I am honestly asking.
Yes. Some apartments only have 1 phase though, ours did.
A panel or two won't produce more than you are consuming, so the fact that
it/they are touching the grid, the energy produced will be used by you. The issue will be that these need to shut down during outages to protect lineman working on the lines during an outages. The micro inverters also need to synchronize their output wave forms with the utilities'. For these reasons it would be better to use these panels for things not connected to the grid, such as a solar generator, which is an all-in-one battery/inverter/power supply.
yes, during the day you put off the main switch delivering power from the grid and turn on the solar on. at night time, put off the solar and turn on the grid power. One switch can do both. that should not be problem because you are not connecting to the grid at all. Just check with the local electrician.
@@ralphbell1786 That's almost what I asked but not exactly. As a non electrician I don't know how much the different circuits interact. I know that they are not directly connected because if I overload one the breaker flips leaving the rest fine. In this case if you put the panels on the living room circuit/breaker will that electricity flow to the kitchen to feed the fridge or does it go to the grid and lower your electricity bill while the kitchen circuit continues using? The result is that your electricity bill is reduced but not because your panels went directly to your fridge.
Or does the panel's electricity go back to the breaker box then to your fridge?
It's a minor point but one that might matter.
The solar panels would back feed your breaker panel. If your fridge was the only demand at the time, it would use the power. However, the panels will likely only be producing a couple hundred watts and be constantly varying with sunlight. Your fridge alone would need more power and be consistent. These panels will only put a small dent in your overall need (like 200 watts out of 6000 watts).
Everyone needs hot water and it takes a lot of energy. Heating water is a safe way to convert locally-generated solar electricity into a practical form of energy. Then you don't have the risks and problems associated with feeding solar elec back into your home electrical network. If you're just making a little electricity it should just go into one energy need device in your life (water heater, e-bike, etc.). There's not enough that it's worth generalizing it.