Bay Area Embraces ‘Balcony Solar’

Bay Area residents are catching on to a renewable energy trend already popular in Germany and other parts of the world: wall- or fence-mounted solar panels.

As Laura Klivans explains in an article for KQED, wall-mounted panels are more affordable, require minimal permitting and paperwork, and are easier to install than rooftop solar. Also known as ‘balcony solar,’ “plug-and-play solar can hang from an apartment balcony, out a window, or be tented in the backyard — the smaller, more affordable displays offer an attractive alternative for renters and people with no roof at all.”

In Germany, millions of panels power households around the country. In the United States, Utah recently passed a law that allows people to use small solar arrays as long as they comply with the national electric code and product safety standards. The technology lies in a legal gray area in states like California, where state regulators say users must register their systems before using them. One company, Bright Saver, stays within these rules by not allowing their systems to feed power back into the grid.