Any Germans here? I heard balcony solar (that you just plug in an outgoing socket) is everywhere in Germany.
this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026
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Germany doesn't use ring mains wiring and their housing stock is considerably more modern than the UK's. So they have more reliable insulation and more modern breaker systems.
That's not to say it's not possible here. It is. It's just the UK needs to take a more cautious approach because we have a greater risk of safety issues due to the way our homes are wired and the overall greater age of components.
All this to say, I hope for the roll out soon, but comparing our situation to Germany doesn't help much because our situation is more complex and will likely involve sparkies in a greater way than Germany needs to. Modern homes or those with up to date circuitry may be fine, but Victorian/Georgian homes will likely need somebody to give the place a look over first.
That's kind of wild, a bit like when we redid our wiring in our -58 apartment, it was similar, two "legs" and you just grounded from it through an appliance, apparently... One leg for the kitchen, one for the rest of the rooms...
Now it's like one leg for every thing(+ loads of breakers), like the fridge has its own cable and so on. I wonder how that works if you inject electricity into one of them...
I see this argument a lot, but are you sure? Let's assume the cables are using 2.5mm^2 which is around 1950's installation "standards", in the worst case that's 13A derated. Is that not enough for 800W of power? Now, I'm not saying that a standard 3-pin plug couldn't cause fire issues, or a bad connection, but that's true for any 3-pin plug with an 800W load. And this completely bypasses the RCD issue because even 800*2 W would still not be enough to cause any fire issues.
I'd be more worried about the plug being used, rather than the current situation.
Don't take my word for it. This is what the Institution of Engineering and Technology has to say:
- Suitability of home wiring: Many installations - especially those that have not been professionally inspected for years - may contain worn components, unverified DIY alterations, or protective devices that cannot safely manage electricity being fed back into the system.
- Older RCDs may not work correctly with plugin generation: An RCD (Residual Current Device) is the safety switch that cuts the power if there’s a fault - for example, if someone cuts through a lawnmower cable it protects you against electric shock. But some older RCDs were never designed for electricity flowing back into the circuit, as can happen with plug-in solar. This can stop the RCD from tripping when it should, meaning it may not protect you during a fault. Households should check with a competent electrician whether their RCDs are suitable before plugging in any energy generation equipment.
- Compliance with Wiring Regulations: BS 7671 (the IET Wiring Regulations) sets out how electrical installations should be designed, built and verified. These regulations do not determine what consumers may plug in, placing responsibility on households to ensure that their wiring is fit for purpose before introducing any form of local generation.
- Risk of overload or back feed: Plug-in solar can create scenarios where parts of a circuit carry more current than intended, even if the circuit breaker appears to operate normally.
- Safe disconnection: Until appropriate standards are finalised, it is not guaranteed how different plug-in solar units will behave when more than one is connected, or how reliably they will disconnect during a power cut, posing a safety risk.
You could use batteries, it's just you can't feed them into the mains. If you power stuff from the battery it's fine and you could use the mains to power the battery as a backup option when the solar is not providing enough and the battery runs flat.
But a lot of batteries I see for this does make me wonder how cost effective it would be for me. Can't plug my heat pump into them which is most of my power usage. Plus as costs start going up with batteries I wonder if it would be better to spend that on full roof solar and export the excess power instead of storing it. UK minimum export rates are not too bad, so export excess instead could be easier. IIRC panels have a much longer lifespan too.
I’ve got two 250w panels set up feeding a 1kwh battery box/inverter which in turn feeds my ‘fridge and works as a UPS.
Around the solstice I can run it all about 12-14hrs but even a month later it’s down to 8-10 already, never mind winter, and with current rates it’s at least a 10 year payback. I don’t really understand the financials of microsolar. It seems like something that scales better if the building management put it up rather than individuals with 400w on the balcony.
I think it depends how much the panels cost, batteries probably make it much harder to pay for it's self as they add a lot to the cost. Also depends on how much of that power you can use and if you get a decent export rate if not.
"Josiah Mortimer" is a comically british name
I've not ever heard the name "Josiah" here before