Hmm interesting. What about solar panels that aren’t connected to the grid? Can you register them as such?
I have no intention of backfeeding into the grid but want to power a home battery with a solar panel or two.
Comment on How Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels
python@programming.dev 1 month ago
Yess, the new regulations are awesome! Especially the recent simplification of the MaStR (Marktstammdatenregister) System has made everything easier for anyone involved.
But… just a heads up, if you don’t register your balcony panel, we can and do find you using satellite pictures 🔫🙂
Rolive@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
python@programming.dev 1 month ago
Solar panels that cannot be connected to the grid don’t have to be declared, but it is based on ability, not intention. So a solar panel so far away from civilization that you physically couldn’t connect it is fine, but if it’s at your house and you could connect it, then you have to register it. (Registration is a 5min online form though, it’s very hassle-free for a system that the German Government came up with lol)
sonori@beehaw.org 1 month ago
Surely ability is determined by having the proper inverter though? The panels are irrelevant as without a proper grid matching inverter all connecting to the grid is going to do is destroy the inverter.
Also, as someone who is currently going through the process of registering a grid connected inverter here in the states, surely the whole point of the registration process is the part where an appropriately licensed electrician comes out to physically verify that the inverter is grid compliant and anti islanding, as that is the part that is likely to actually kill someone if it is improperly installed or configured.
It’s also something the government/utility has to take on trust to be declared, as a miss wired generator or battery backup transfer switch poses the near exact same risk.
python@programming.dev 1 month ago
I’m not very knowledgeable on Inverters, they don’t come up much in the legal material I juggle around at work lol
Balcony Units have them built in as far as I know. The only big regulation when it comes to wiring is that anyone who has solar needs their Electricity Counter replaced with a bidirectional “Smart Meter”, because classical Counters can’t really count down when you feed into the Grid. I’m guessing that the Smart Meters themselves would have some sort of safety mechanism to prevent wildly miswired connections.
I think there was some sort of requirement to at least have an electrician check the solar setup before it gets connected too, but German law in most parts is “If you decide not to hire a licensed professional, then anything that happens is your own fault”.
john_lemmy@slrpnk.net 1 month ago
You have to declare that you have a solar panel to the government?
plz1@lemmy.world 1 month ago
If it can feed back to the grid, it can be a safety issue for electrical workers. Having them know about this stuff before they mess with lines is the safe way to do it.
python@programming.dev 1 month ago
Yup, the reason is that undocumented solar panels plugged into the Grid could cause seriously dangerous power spikes and throw off calculations on how much Suppliers need to feed into the Grid. So the only panels that don’t have to be declared and registered with MaStR are ones on top of cars and ones that are so remote that you couldn’t plug them in in any case (but Germany has basically no places remote enough to meet that criteria)