I’m beautiful and tough like a diamond…or beef jerky in a ball gown.

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Joined 9 months ago
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Cake day: July 15th, 2025

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  • True, but I’ve had two grid-tie inverters, and both have had anti islanding protection and would not function when there is no utility power. Pretty much all grie-tie inverters have that protection.

    I’m specifically referring to the interconnect agreement, though, which is where you have to jump through a bunch of hoops, fill out a bunch of forms, pay a fee, wait for the power company to come and inspect it, and get the utility provider’s blessing before you can hook in a grie-tie inverter and export even a fraction of a watt.

    And you have to go through that process every time there’s a change to your system. e.g. If I start out with a 400 watt balcony solar kit, get that approved, and want to add another 400w kit, I would have to file new paperwork, pay another fee, wait for inspection, etc.

    I’m all for reasonable safety measures, but the power company in my area is clearly doing all it can to pay lip service to “yes, we support balcony solar” while also making it as painful as possible for homeowners to actually implement it.