California Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation Wednesday allowing residents to install small plug-in solar systems to counter soaring electricity costs, a move expected to jump-start the market for the technology.
California, the largest US solar market, is the 10th state to approve plug-in solar since 2025. A bill awaits New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s signature, and almost two dozen other states are considering similar laws.
Plug-in systems, also called balcony solar, usually consist of two to four solar panels that plug into a wall outlet and can be placed on apartment terraces or in backyards of single-family homes. They typically cost between $300 and $2,000 or more and generate enough electricity to power a refrigerator, electronics and lights, potentially shaving several hundred dollars a year from utility bills. Some models come with batteries to store power for use during periods of peak demand, when electricity rates spike, or when storms or heat waves knock out the grid.
“The world’s fourth-largest economy has opened up the market to balcony solar,” said Cora Stryker, co-founder of Bright Saver, a Bay Area nonprofit that sells do-it-yourself plug-in solar systems and has pushed for the technology’s legalization. “It sends a clear market signal to manufacturers that it is worth their while to invest in R&D to make a California version of the balcony solar systems they are selling by the millions in Germany.”
Like laws in other states, the California bill lets residents install plug-in solar systems without seeking utility approval or paying costly fees. But the systems are limited to generating a maximum of 1.2 kilowatts and can’t feed power back to the grid. The equipment also must be certified by a nationally recognized testing lab, and California residents just need to notify their utility when they install it.
For much of California, 1200W of solar will get decently close to 6kWh/day or 180kWh/month. Obviously less than that given weather and changing sun angles throughout the year, but not insignificant.
And it’s worth noting the savings on the bill won’t be from base-tier grid rates, it’ll be off the top of whatever tier you’d otherwise have landed in.
Solar was a no-brainer three years ago and has only gotten cheaper since. What’s important here is these systems are plug-and-play, not “learn about VOC, amps, charge controllers and most likely buy some batteries.”
Excellent news. I have hope that the solar wave will eventually hit the entire US/world no matter what the oil lobby does because of the affordability of it. I think even deep red US states won’t be able to stave it off much longer. They still don’t give a damn about the climate crisis yet but they care about their wallets.
If you can get 1200W of solar that plugs into your house for $600, it would be stupid not to. Electricity rates ain’t going down.
The fun “tricky” thing some folks in Utah have done with the same 1200w plug in limit is to plug in 1200w of panels straight into the house, then have a second set of 1200w pabels plugged directly into a battery. This let’s you use the 1200w when the sun is up, and have the 2nd set of 1200w charge a battery bank for 8 hours which you then use when th3 sun goes down.
The way Utah’s law is written is that you only have 1200w of panels supplying your house at any point, so charging the battery instead with the second set of panels skirts around it while effectively raising the effective panel amount to 2400w.
2400W with Utah’s latitude and climate should be able to provide some 12kWh/day under ideal angles. That ain’t nothing, and it’s a one-time expense. Do you just do a suicide cable to mains from a battery bank with outlets? Because otherwise you need to route through an inverter from DC.
