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this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2026
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What happens when someone makes an unsafe backfeed into a downed grid and then other nearby inverters detect the current and bring themselves back online? Is there a way to detect if the load is being delivered from the utility vs from incorrectly configured solar or generator installations?
Some others are arguing back and forth about this elsewhere in the thread and I see the reasoning: unpermitted systems could accidentally energize isolated portions of the grid during downtime, which might trick properly installed systems to also come back online, and you have a runaway effect where there is enough current present to allow addition safety systems to be fooled.
There isn’t any data transmission over the wires; there either is current, or there isn’t. Arguing over permitting is moot - either safety systems can handle this scenario already, or they can’t.
All paperwork does is slow the relief of dependence on the utility, which hurts their profits.
The same thing that currently happens when somebody does that with a gas generator? Linepersons get zapped… people get sued… etc…
That’s very wrong. Not only can you extend Ethernet in your own home using your power outlets, the power companies have been reading meters this way for decades.
Kinda seems like something you might want to avoid...
Obviously. I was just pointing out that it isn’t an issue unique to solar.
It is unique to "balcony solar". Typical solar systems require permits and inspections before connecting.
No it isn’t. The same thing happens with the kind of gas generators you can get from your local hardware store all the time.
As I mentioned several times elsewhere, gas generators also typically require permitting.
For a permanent installation, yes, just like a large solar installation. But I can go down to Lowe’s and get a gas generator capable of similar output as the balcony solar and it won’t require any permits.
Which is what balcony solar is.
Though this does vary by locale, in most places legally it’s only permanent if you have to leave it there when you move.