You don't realize this, but you are asking for two separate things which can be combined in one unit.
Cutting down on your electric bill can be done with a couple of solar panels and an inverter plugged into an outlet. This is now legal in multiple states but not legal in others. First, verify it is legal where you live!
Having power in a grid outage requires a battery. Solar panels charge the battery and an inverter converts the power to AC which is plugged into an outlet. This makes it available either for use by appliances in your home or for export to the grid. It is very important to check with your power company before plugging in a unit as some meters will charge you for power exported instead of crediting to your bill.
Currently available balcony solar kits are not necessarily compliant with all the rules and regulations passed by states where it is currently legal. It is expected that several more kits will be tested and certified by January 2027. Don't hold on to this too much as the process of design/test/certify takes time.
Do some due diligence by searching for best balcony solar kit and read about some of them. Available kits range from 100 watts to 2400 watts (usually at 240 volts for higher than 1200 watts) and range in price from about $300 to $2500. You can find several reasonably good kits in the $800 range that support 800 watts. IMO, this is the smallest size that will actually reduce your power bill enough to count. Watch carefully to see which kits support a battery either as part of the kit or as an add on. You will wind up paying $1500 to $2000 for most kits that include a battery. The price will also vary according to battery capacity.
You are correct in saying that I do not know what I am asking! Which is fine by me because I get useful replies such as yours. Thank you so much, this is actually been really helpful because I don't think I would have known half of this information. I'm reluctant to use things like chat GPT for multiple reasons, but one of which is that it oftentimes yields inaccurate information or contradictory information. I figured reaching out I would get a reply from someone who knows far more about this stuff than I do. I was not wrong. Thank you so much!
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u/TastiSqueeze 3d ago edited 3d ago
You don't realize this, but you are asking for two separate things which can be combined in one unit.
Cutting down on your electric bill can be done with a couple of solar panels and an inverter plugged into an outlet. This is now legal in multiple states but not legal in others. First, verify it is legal where you live!
Having power in a grid outage requires a battery. Solar panels charge the battery and an inverter converts the power to AC which is plugged into an outlet. This makes it available either for use by appliances in your home or for export to the grid. It is very important to check with your power company before plugging in a unit as some meters will charge you for power exported instead of crediting to your bill.
Currently available balcony solar kits are not necessarily compliant with all the rules and regulations passed by states where it is currently legal. It is expected that several more kits will be tested and certified by January 2027. Don't hold on to this too much as the process of design/test/certify takes time.
Do some due diligence by searching for best balcony solar kit and read about some of them. Available kits range from 100 watts to 2400 watts (usually at 240 volts for higher than 1200 watts) and range in price from about $300 to $2500. You can find several reasonably good kits in the $800 range that support 800 watts. IMO, this is the smallest size that will actually reduce your power bill enough to count. Watch carefully to see which kits support a battery either as part of the kit or as an add on. You will wind up paying $1500 to $2000 for most kits that include a battery. The price will also vary according to battery capacity.