There’s no doubt about it — solar power has already revolutionized the electricity industry. Solar power accounts for the majority of new power capacity around the world and around the US. That said, there are still significant barriers to residential solar adoption, and we are nowhere close to 50% of homes having solar power, not to mention 100%. Some barriers include permitting costs and wait times, others include upfront costs, and then there’s the fact that many people who will need to replace their roof in the next few, or even several, years want to wait until then to consider installing solar power. Plug & play solar helps with all of those things. It’s on a roll now for that reason. However, for the most part, it needs to be legalized and streamlined. The good news this week is that Virginia has become the third state in the nation to make plug & play solar, aka “balcony solar,” legal. That is, the state has decided that no municipality within its borders can ban people from installing such solar. “This month, Virginians can join the party too. Virginia’s new solar law (HB 395) prohibits any locality from banning balcony solar on residential structures as long as the units are no more than 1.2kW (1200 Watts or about the power of a hair drier), comply with zoning restrictions and do not export power,” Forbes summarizes. “The units must meet the standards of the most recent version of the National Electrical Code and be certified by a nationally recognized testing laboratory. Fortunately, these systems are safe according to an exhaustive technical/safety analysis of the relevant regulations of plug-and-play solar in the U.S. More recently UL has explained how to make it safe and easy for all Americans.” Sounds logical. Why not all 50 states? Maybe soon.
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