'Plug-in solar has long been popular in Europe, but rising energy costs and a raft of new state laws are boosting its popularity in the U.S.

It sounds like a crackpot invention advertised on the back of an old comic book: DIY solar panels you plug into a standard wall outlet to pump electricity into your home. And yet they’re totally real, and more states are now saying they’re legal and safe to use.It’s called “plug-in solar,” aka “balcony solar,” because that’s where panels are often placed.

Residents of Utah and Maryland can now use it to combat skyrocketing utility bills, and seven more states—Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Virginia—have recently passed laws to make it possible, too.

More than 20 other states are working on legalizing this technology, according to Bright Saver, a nonprofit that tracks and advocates for this technology.While we typically draw power out of our outlets, they’re capable of receiving power as well.

The safety concern is that, during an outage, this auxiliary electricity source could endanger electricians or utility workers. But the balcony solar products now being sold will shut off if they sense that the grid is down or the home’s main power is off.Plug-in solar is already widespread in Europe, says Moncef Krarti, a professor of architectural engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder. In Germany alone, more than one million systems have been installed.

Though each home’s energy generation is capped at a relatively paltry 800 watts, their sum total across the country equates to a large power plant, he says.If energy prices continue to rise, California or New York could one day eclipse Germany in total installed balcony solar capacity. That’s a major reason plug-in solar is now taking off in the U.S., Krarti says. However, when electricity is priced below 20 cents a kilowatt-hour, the systems might not make up their cost in energy savings during their usable lives, he adds.'

WSJ

This looks like an interesting power/cost saving option. Is anyone out there in Stacker Land doing this? Apparently here in New Zealand it is not permitted but in Europe and some US states it is.
Could work to make home BTC mining more viable?
Might interest @siggy47 and others interested in BTC mining.

unpaywalled link to full article -

https://archive.ph/QZKsU