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this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2025
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Hey, as someone in Germany do you have a link for this? I would absolutely love to buy something under a grand and pop it on my balcony.
The problem is the legislation doesn't currently allow for solar to run right into an outlet in the US because it's unsafe without the right cutoff devices (like Germany has), but no one is manufacturing the devices cause the legislation doesn't allow for things like that to exist (and the voltage/frequency is different, so you can't just import one).
I think Utah was just the first state to enable it, so hopefully this spur wider adoption.
https://grist.org/energy/balcony-solar-took-off-in-germany-why-not-the-us/
OBI / Bauhaus / Aldi sometimes have sales for full kits
Obi has this one at the moment for example: https://www.obi.de/p/2191115656515/solakon-balkonkraftwerk-900w-800w-solaranlage-steckerfertig-komplettset-photovoltaik-anlage-800w-kabellaenge-5m
I have to add that i know the Growatt inverter(Wechselrichter) that ships with this kit and the monitoring it has really sucks. It does its job of generating electricity just fine however, so if you dont need monitoring or can build your own then it doesnt matter.
The built in monitoring with most inverters (expensive or not) is proprietary garbage that only works with the manufacturers app which is often some weird chinese app that wants location permissions. You have been warned :D
But yeah they are becoming insanely cheap. Last i checked you do not need to register a balkonkraftwerk with your electricity company or landlord up to 800W so that makes things very simple.
Edit: The app in question.
TIL I'm selling solar panels in Germany.