Comment on Twenty four US states are now considering legislation to allow small, plug-in solar power systems that connect directly into a wall socket.

• cynar@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I have a friend who works for the UK grid. He visibly winced when I mentioned the plug in back feeding systems a while back. They’ve had a few close calls with “off grid” setups being used on grid.

  Apparently even properly installed solar is a serious problem, though that’s more down to the sudden demand shifts it creates. It throws off their predictions and threatens grid stability at times.

  I’m a big fan of solar, at all scales, btw. We just need to remember that the grid is not just a dumb system, it has a lot of active parts that were never designed or intended for use with microgeneration.

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• cynar@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  It’s also worth noting that some of the issues get a lot easier at 230VAC

  We are effectively on twice the voltage. Since P=I^2 R the effective heating is quadrupled. This makes American wiring a lot more vulnerable to overloading than Europe or China.

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