Web 57DHYAFZZFLZKH August 17 2026 Ten U.S. states have legalized Plug In Solar
Ten U.S. states have legalized Plug In Solar
These systems can be plugged into standard wall outlets.
One woman plugged in four solar panels in Salt Lake City Utah
In the six months since then she has lowered her electricity bill
Seventy Seven Dollars. Millions of Americans worried about rising energy costs
as states start allowing homeowners and renters to plug in solar panels
on balconies, and in backyards. Plug-in systems are much smaller
and cheaper than rooftop build-outs. Some cost just a few hundred dollars a panel.
Permits are not required in the states that allow their use, and people can often install
them on their own. Utah became the first state to legalize plug-in solar systems last year.
Nine others, including New Jersey, Virginia and Colorado, have joined it, and lawmakers
in California, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and other states are
considering doing so. Colorado enacted one of the broadest plug-in solar laws this year.
But no plug-in solar system has yet been certified as safe to use in the United States.
States that have passed laws allowing the systems to be sold require them to be certified by organizations like UL Solutions, a company that tests, validates and sets standards
for various products. The result is a gap growing between enthusiasm for plug-in solar
and the availability of a product that has been proven safe. UL Solutions soon expects
to certify at least one of the plug-in solar systems for use in the United States.
People should avoid uncertified products, because they could cause electrical
shocks or damage electrical equipment and start fires. For now, some Americans
are shopping online for plug-in systems for their homes, condominiums and apartments.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, a man who lives in a condominium, bought two panels
even though he knew that California had not yet passed a plug-in solar law.
Hanging from his balcony, the panels generate enough electricity to save him Five to Seven Dollars
a month on a bill that typically runs about Four Hundred Dollars but has reached as high as
Six Hundred Eighty Dollars a month in winter. Bright Saver, a California nonprofit group, recently
began selling plug- in solar kits at cost, meaning the organization makes no profit on the sales.
Its goal is to expand access to solar systems and push other companies to drive down their prices.
Its two-panel, Three Hundred Sixty-watt system is roughly big enough to power a refrigerator
and sells for Four Hundred Fourteen Dollars and Seventeen Cents and Those systems are
too small to pose any safety risks, said an organization co-founder. Even so, the laws in Maine,
New York and Vermont require system certification because of more stringent policies in those states.
Eco Flow and Craft Strom sell larger systems for One Thousand Three Hundred to Two Thousand Six Hundred Dollars. EcoFlow ships to addresses in Utah and Maryland, which have passed laws allowing plug-in solar, and Craft Strom sells to all Fifty states, capitalizing on certification standards.
Both companies have said they plan to seek full certification from UL Solutions. Craft Strom said sales had increased Fifty percent in the past year as state lawmakers passed legislation for plug-in solar systems. Plug-in solar systems route the direct current generated by one or a few panels to an inverter, which converts it to alternating current. The inverter, in turn, is plugged into a wall socket
through which it transmits energy to appliances, lightbulbs or anything else that is using electricity. Germany first allowed residents to install plug-in solar in October Two Thousand Twenty Four. Some Eight Hundred Thousand people registered their systems in the first three months, and buyers can now pick them up at IKEA in Germany. The American electrical system is different from Germany’s so that panels sold there cannot be used here. Utility executives in the United States say that electricity produced by the systems might feed back into the power grid, posing a danger to linemen working on power lines that they believed were not carrying electricity. The parent company of Southern California Edison opposed a bill in the California Legislature to legalize such systems because it did not fully protect utility workers. Companies that sell plug-in systems argue safety risks are minimal or nonexistent. Craft Strom said systems would not shock electrical workers because they shut off automatically within one second of a power disruption or grid outage. UL Solutions would certify panels only if they did not pose a risk to consumers or utility workers. Plug-in solar technology backers say that safety issues will soon be resolved and more states ought to legalize it to help people with rising energy costs.