Guides

• Plug in solar for California renters: the start-here guide

  You rent, you have no roof, and your SCE bill keeps climbing. Everything you need to know about plug in solar, assuming you know nothing about solar.

• How much does balcony solar actually save in California?

  Between $95 and $564 a year depending on direction, tilt, and whether anyone's home. Every figure with the arithmetic shown.

• Which way does your balcony face, and why it decides everything

  A north-facing panel makes a third of what a south-facing one makes. Direction and tilt matter more than which kit you buy or what you spend.

• Battery or no battery?

  A battery raises your annual saving by about 50% and roughly doubles the payback. Worth it if you're out during the day or on a time-of-use plan.

• What's in a kit, and what you'll also need to buy

  Kits are sold as if they arrive complete. They rarely do. Here's what's in the box, what isn't, and what the extras cost.

• Will it work with time-of-use rates?

  Solar makes power at midday; utilities charge most from 4pm to 9pm. What that gap does to your savings, and how to close it.

• The one question every solar calculator forgets to ask

  Whether someone's home during the day changes your solar savings by up to 40%. It's the biggest lever in the model and no calculator asks about it.

• Why 'no backup power' surprises every first-time buyer

  Plug in solar shuts off the instant the grid does — by law, to protect line workers. Not reduced power. None. What to buy if you want backup.

Two of these go stale on their own schedule. Both carry the date they were true.

• Can your landlord or HOA say no?

  Yes, your landlord probably can. Your HOA is a genuinely open question — the Solar Rights Act was written for roofs and has never been tested on balconies.

• Is plug in solar safe? What the fire officials and UL actually said

  Firefighters and electrical workers opposed SB 868 on genuine engineering grounds. Here's their argument, the answer, and what it means for you.

• Is plug in solar legal in California yet?

  SB 868 passed the Legislature on 26 August 2026 and awaits the Governor's signature by 30 September. What it does, what it doesn't, and what to do now.

• What UL 3700 is, and why almost nothing is certified yet

  UL 3700 is the safety standard SB 868 effectively requires. It launched in January 2026, and complete kits are still catching up. What to look for.

• SB 868: what happens between now and January

  The Governor has until 30 September. Then a certification scramble, then an effective date. What each stage means if you're thinking about buying a kit.

California is not going first. Germany has a decade of this and Utah has a year, and both are the closest thing to evidence about what happens next.

• Germany has a million of these. What California can and can't copy

  Germany registered around 435,000 plug in solar systems in a year. The rules that made it happen, and the three that California didn't copy.

• Utah went first. What happened after HB 340

  Utah legalised plug in solar in March 2025 with the same 1,200W cap California is proposing. What the first US market tells us about what's coming.

• The federal solar tax credit is gone. Here's what that does to the math

  Section 25D ended for expenditures after 31 December 2025. Any 2026 solar pricing still subtracting 30% is wrong. What it means for plug-in kits.

• You already have rooftop solar. Read this first

  If you have rooftop solar on net billing, a plug-in panel probably exports at 5-8 cents instead of saving you 33. Usually not worth it.

• Plug in solar for small businesses

  A shop open during the day uses nearly all of what a panel makes, where a home uses about 60%. The catch: SB 868 is written around homes, not shops.

Every number here comes from one published model, and we say when we get one wrong.

• How we work out the savings

  The irradiance data, orientation factors, self-consumption assumptions and rate figures behind every number on this site. Including what we don't model.

• Checking the model against a real Irvine balcony

  Every savings figure here is model output. How we check it against a real balcony, the prediction written down before the data, and what we publish if the model is wrong.

• Corrections

  What we've got wrong and what we changed. Every correction is dated and says what the figure was before.

Shorter than a guide, and they do the work for you.

• What would a panel on your balcony actually save?

  Seven questions, about a minute, and an honest number at the end — including when the honest answer is that it isn't worth it for your place.

• Is this kit allowed in California?

  Check whether a plug in solar kit meets California's SB 868 requirements: 1,200W cap, plug-in PV certification, anti-islanding, standard outlet.

• Ask your landlord or HOA

  Generate a plain, factual request to install a plug in solar panel — for a landlord, an HOA board, or a property manager. Free, no email needed.

• Two-minute outlet check

  Six questions about the outlet you'd use. Tells you whether you're fine, should ask an electrician, or shouldn't do it. No wiring instructions.