this post was submitted on 20 May 2025
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You plug it straight into the wall, it syncs to the grid and back-feeds it, up to 800W. Your meter stops spinning (or even goes backwards)
Back feeding is illegal in the US.
So... if backfeeding is illegal. How does home solar work in the US?
You can have an electrician install a system and setup an agreement with an electric company to back feed and be credited. But you cannot just plug something into the wall that backfeeds. Most places in the US that's illegal. And that's why it makes less economic sense here. The system will already pay back at a much slower pace because of our lower energy costs. And the increased minimum cost to install makes it much less desirable. It's not just a regulation problem either. Our outlets aren't particularly safe for a backfeeding setup.
Here smaller setups require a battery and again, that increases the cost. You mostly only see larger whole home rooftop installs because of this.
Outlets dont really have an orientation. Shouldnt matter which direction the power is flowing as long as you dont exceed 80% the rating of the lowest denominator of the circuit. 800 watts shouldn't really hurt any circuits, even the 10amp ones which is about the smallest I think I've ever seen here.
Backfeeding is only illegal in the sense of safety requirements to my knowledge. These panels dont feed when grid is off (embedded ATS). Which satisfies safety (UL would just need to approve, but likely wouldn't until the last item below is addressed). At just 800 watts... I doubt you'd ever backfeed anyway. And if you do, good luck collecting any money for it. But to that point, I backfeed 15kW batteries during peak hours. Above and beyond my solar setup... they can't really say anything about it. But I go full island when grid is down, which sadly happens often even though I'm in a major metro area.
Lower cost of energy does make it a harder sell overall but that wasn't really the question. These panels are also significantly cheaper since you dont need to pay install fees and such. The equation is a bit different.
The only real hiccup is the nature of our phased systems here... a solar panel in a single outlet will only feed one phase.That's a problem. One that probably makes it a nonstarter as people simply wont install 240v outlets on their patios/balconies. But I don't think Ive seen a law that says backfeed illegal, but illegal to cause safety issues on dead grid (eg. you must have an ATS or main service lockout). Do you have a source on illegality outside ot ATS/lockout requirement?