Raymond Ward wants to see the solar panels covered with every balcony in the United States and does not understand why this does not happen.
This technology cannot be easier to use – you only need to hang a plate or two steroids and connect it to an port. The devices provide up to 800 watts, which is enough to charge a laptop or operate a small refrigerator. They are Popular in GermanyAs everyone from tenants descends to the two -person activists to tool lovers. The Germans have registered more than 780,000 devices for the country’s facility organizer as of December. They have Installing the other millions without informing the government.
Here in the United States, though, there is no market for a solar energy balcony. Import, the Republican Republican Representative in Utah, who learned of technology last year wants to change. The way he sees, this is a clear solution to High energy demand. “You look there and say,” well, this works. “So what prevents us from getting it here?”
His colleagues agree. Last month, the Legislative Council unanimously approved a draft law sponsoring technology, and the Republican Governor Spencer Cox signed. HB 340 Exempt the portable solar devices from the country’s regulations that require owners Solar energy rows on the surface And other power generation systems to sign an agreement to link with its local benefit. These deals, and other “soft costs” such as permits, can Almost weakness Going to solar energy.
Utah’s law is the first important step for the nation to remove barriers that prevent the terminal of solar energy – but there are still greater obstacles. The regulations and standards that govern electrical appliances did not keep pace with technology development, and lack the basic approvals needed for accreditation – including compliance with national electrical law and product safety standard from subscription laboratories. Nothing about Bill Ward Change Books: YouTahan still cannot install the solar energy balcony because none of the systems has not been adopted at the national level.
Technology advocates said that these challenges will take time and effort to overcome them, but they cannot be overcome. So far, a team of entrepreneurs and research scientists, supported by federal financing, is creating these standards. Their work reflects what happened in Germany nearly a decade, when the advocates of clean energy and companies began to pressure the country’s electrical certificates to amend the safety regulations to legalize the terminal of solar energy.
In 2017, VerBand Der Elektrotechnik, or VDE, a German certificate, issued product and safety standards for electrical products, released the first guideline principle that allows solar balcony systems. While these systems are present before the VDE takes this step, the standard that you set allows manufacturers to sell them widely and create a prosperous industry.
“The solar energy balcony is a company that enhances the solar energy balcony. Members of the German Solar Energy Industry Association spent years calling for technology and worked with VDE to sculpt a way towards unifying the balcony solar systems. The initial standard was followed by revised versions in 2018 and 2019, which set more technical requirements.
The organizational structure continued to develop. Offenusle worked with other advocates to adjust network safety standards, and create a simple online registration for add -ons, and Allocating the right of tenants to the balcony of solar energy. Politicians support such efforts because they see technology that reduces the nation’s dependence on Russian natural gas. Cities like Berlin and Munich Millions of euros have provided subsidies to help families buy these systems, and create the country as a safety standard for batteries that can store energy for later use.
Tobias Schwarz / AFP via Getty
Meanwhile, the United States has not yet taken the first step to create a technology safety standard. American electrical guidelines do not explain the ability to connect the power plant in a home port. The nation also works on a different system that simply prevents copies and paste German bases. The American network, for example, is 120 volts, while the country’s network operates at 230 volts.
Without appropriate criteria, a solar balcony system can form several risks.
Anxiety is a phenomenon called hiding the crusher. Inside the house, one circle can provide energy for several outlets. Each circuit is equipped with a circle cutting, which is a safety device inside the electric plate that closes the energy if this circuit is burdened, which occurs when many devices try to draw a lot of electricity at the same time. Which prevents high temperature or fire. When a solar energy balcony sends power to a circle while other devices derive energy from the circuit, the broken can not discover this added electrical supply. If the circuit becomes burdened – imagine the operation of your TV device while turning on the space heater and charging your laptop, all in the same room – the circuit breaker may fail to activate.
This was a source of concern in Germany, so the standards that limit the balcony units have developed to only 800 watts, about half the amount Used by a hair dryer. Cibsian Muller, president of the German Pountya Association, a consumer and advocacy group, said this threshold is considered low enough even at the oldest homes in the country, the wires can stand in front of the heating that occurs even in the worst scenarios of the worst cases. As a result, Offenheusle said that there were no cases of hiding the crusher causing harm. In fact, with millions of devices installed at the country level, Germany has not seen any safety problems that exceed some cases in which a person tampered with devices to add a battery to the car or other inappropriate devices.
Another problem in the United States is the lack of a compatible safety device called the terrestrial rift district, or GFCI. It is usually included in outlets installed near water sources, such as the sink, washing machine or bathtub. It is designed to reduce the risk of electric shock by cutting energy when it falls, for example, a hair dryer in the pelvis. However, there are no GFCI ports approved in the United States designed for use with energy -consuming devices, such as a mixer, and those you generate, such as solar solar preparation. Andreas Schmits, a mechanical engineer and Outop, said in Germany, who makes videos about the solar energy balcony.
Some people raised concerns about the risk of trauma to touch the metal fork for the components after separating a balcony balcony device. German organizers represent this by calling Microinverter – which transforms currents from the plate to electricity that is fed at home – immediately in cutting or when it is suddenly separated. Most of them already have this feature, but any American standard may need to make the formal character to these requirements.
The lack of insurance companies laboratories, or UL, may be the biggest obstacle to adopting a solar energy balcony. The company witnesses the safety of thousands of home electrical products; according to Iowa State University“Every lamp, lamp, or port purchased in the United States usually has UL code and says UL listed.” This guarantees customers that the product follows recognized guidelines at the national level and can be used Without a fire or shock.
Although some companies sold solar devices in the United States without the UL menu, the company’s approval is usually a prerequisite for selling products in the wider market. Consumers may be careful not to use something that lacks his consent. For example, Utah’s new solar policy determines that the law applies only to UL products.
Achim Ginsberg-Klemt, Vice President of Engineering at the start of solar operation in additions GismopowerIt creates such a standard for more than a year and a half. In 2023, the Ministry of Energy granted his company a grant to work with UL to develop a standard.
Gissmopower sells a mobile garage with a ceiling of solar panels and an integrated electric charger. Unlike solar energy on the surface, the system does not need to be installed in place but can be wrapped on a corridor and connecting it, and generating electricity to the car, home and network. “We mainly reach solar energy on the surface to the next level” by making it carried and and accessible to tenants. The product is used in Experimental sites At the level of the country, although the lack of unified bases of additional components, the company forced negotiating the interconnection agreements with local facilities-a long and sometimes expensive process.
Gismopower avoids one of the largest technical challenges with the solar energy balcony by connecting a 240 -volt customized port, which is the type usually used for dryers. Such a port offers one device and uses a custom circle, which avoids the risk of excess loading. But it goes in the same obstacle that lacks a compatible UL standard. Ginsberg-KleMMT works with researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, other businessmen, and engineers in insurance laboratories to develop such a standard, but it was not easy. “We have found a lot of road barriers,” he told Grist.
One of the main adhesion points is that any standard must correspond to the national electric code, a set of guidelines for electrical wires in buildings that do not allow the installation of spatial energy systems such as solar energy balcony. The rules are issued by the National Fire Protection Association, a non -profit commercial association, and adopted on the basis of each case separately.
The symbol is updated every three years, with the next repetition later this year for the release of 2026. Ginsberg-KleMMT and his business set are made recommendations to modify the code to allow solar clothes-and each of them was rejected in October.
Jeff Sargent told the national employees of the Fire Protection Association in the National Committee for Electrical Law, that this is the first time that the organization has received general comments on solar energy systems. Currently, he cannot consider adjustments to allow them to be used until there is a compatible cards boycott. He said that as soon as it is available, the association could guarantee that external ports can be used safely in the terminal of solar energy.
Sargent said the electrical standards are constantly developing, and it often takes more than a cycle of code changes to allow new products. Ginsburg Clemet said his group will continue to follow other methods of modifying the symbols.
Until this happens, the UL standard for solar clothes is unlikely to go anywhere. Ward said that the interest in the component energy solutions will not go away, and the decision makers will have to adapt to this reality in the end. This happened in Germany, where people were adopted through the political spectrum technology. Ward believes that the same will happen here. The way he sees, “It is a good thing if you prepare a system so that people have a way to take care of as much of their problems as possible.”
