A new state law puts solar power directly in the hands of Mainers with systems costing less than a Disney World weekend for two.
The portable, low-cost devices, installed on the sunny side of a home or balcony, plug directly into a standard 120-volt outdoor outlet to generate solar power at home. Offsetting a portion of residential use, they could save consumers hundreds of dollars annually and will likely reduce electric bills by as much as 20% a year, according to the Maine Office of the Public Advocate.
Utah passed the first plug-in solar legislation last year. Maine was the second state to approve its use on April 6, followed by Virginia on April 22. Twenty other states are considering similar legislation.
Until now, other than turning back the thermostat or doing laundry during non-peak hours, there was little help for 70% of Mainers struggling to pay electric bills that rank among the nation’s highest. While these smaller systems do not replace expensive residential rooftop solar arrays, they offer homeowners and renters an affordable, energy-saving alternative, according to experts.
”This makes solar power available to most Mainers without existing regulatory hurdles and the high cost of rooftop systems,” said Rebecca Schultz, senior advocate for Climate and Clean Energy at the Natural Resources Council of Maine. “These are simple, portable, affordable and help people save money. They just make sense.”
The new state law, LD 1730: An Act to Make Small Plug-in Solar Generation Devices Accessible for All Maine Residents to Address the Energy Affordability Crisis, goes into effect in July. But the actual systems permitted in Maine won’t be available to consumers until safety codes and standards have been updated, Schultz said.
“By the fall, Mainers should be on the lookout for products that advertise themselves compliant with UL3700,” she said.
A quick online search for plug-in solar brings up pages of options, but Schultz said those systems do not have the UL Solutions certification, previously Underwriter’s Laboratory, that the new Maine law requires.
Safety provisions written into the law require compliance with UL’s product and home safety standards for consumers and utility workers.
For systems that can generate power from 420 watts to 1,200 watts, the highest allowed by Maine law, a licensed electrician must install a dedicated breaker in a home’s main panel with one exterior outlet for the system.
“By requiring an electrician for larger kits, the law seeks to ensure home wiring is configured to effectively mitigate risks of shock and fire,” Schultz said.
To protect utility line workers, all units must have an automatic shutoff to eliminate energy on the line during repairs, Schultz said. The systems available online are unlikely to have this protection.
Currently in Maine, no one can legally plug solar systems into the grid without express permission from the utility. The new law changes that for plug-in units, which are exempt from such regulations designed for rooftop installations.
The law also prohibits utility companies from requiring prior approval or charging any fees, according to Schultz. But it does require that people using 420-watt or larger systems notify the utility.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission is still working out the details for the notification process.
The technology has taken off in Europe, especially in Germany, which has more than a million balcony units in use with a combined capacity of one gigawatt – roughly equivalent to the size of two U.S. coal plants, said Schultz, who worked with lawmakers and several other state environmental groups to draft the legislation.
A Climate to Thrive, Maine Climate Action Now and the Natural Resources Council of Maine joined with lawmakers to get the legislation passed. Beth Woolfolk, outgoing manager of renewable energy planning and policy for A Climate to Thrive, a grassroots community-based organization, spearheaded the initiative to bring this option to Mainers, Schultz said.
A Climate to Thrive helps communities make clean energy ownership as accessible as possible. Woolfolk had sought alternative options in anticipation of a shift in federal tax credits and the loss of grant or federal funding for clean energy projects, she said.
She and a researcher at Boston University’s Center for Global Policy Development examined options to help Maine communities.
Woolfolk looked at Germany because they successfully rolled out solar ownership across the country, she said. Through that research, she found plug-in solar.
Germany had advanced the technology because most people there rent and can’t put solar on their roofs. Residents can purchase an 800-watt system from IKEA or local hardware stores for about $500, Woolfolk said.
“We’re expecting something similar in the U.S. market as more states pass these laws,” she said.
Woolfolk believes plug-in systems will fill a gap in Maine. When she learned Utah had passed a plug-in solar law, she approached Maine Sen.Nicole Grohoski, D-Ellsworth, and Rep. Gary Friedmann, D-Bar Harbor, with this idea, she said.
“They supported it and the rest is history,” she said. “This was about a year in the making. It was a long process and I’m overjoyed to see that it is moving forward and that Maine can be a leader in the U.S. along with Utah.”
A significant portion of the cost of systems right now is in shipping, Woolfolk said.
A Climate to Thrive is probing ways to order the plug-in systems in bulk to shave costs, said Naomi Albert, the organization’s manager of community energy planning and policy.
“We’re really interested in supporting communities with bulk purchasing to help bring down the costs,” Albert said. “We’re also working with communities to streamline the process of hiring an electrician to have them installed in a community and to bring down the cost and make them more accessible.”
