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Home electricity bills are skyrocketing. For data centers, not so much.
(yaleclimateconnections.org)
this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2026
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I was surprised when I read about it too, but it's true, they quite literally just plug them right into the normal plugs.
It works because there's a certain tolerance on the German breakers that allow for power to reverse. The balcony panels take advantage of this. However this also limits the possible output to whatever the tolerance is, otherwise it would overload and shut off or worse.
How does that even work? Panel would generate DC current and outlet would need AC. Then even when you have AC, you need to match the frequency, if outlet AC has a peak in its wave and panel has a trough, would this not cause problems? Also, does germany has pure sine wave electricity? Or is it like 3 line and 1 neutral?
Edit: nvm, i guess it has a normal on-grid inverter system built in
@just_an_average_joe
You are right that this setup needs a DC-AC inverter often sold together with the PV panel and the inverter is designed for this purpose. It sort of rides on the sine wave from the outlet. Yes, this only works on one phase while the building gets 3 phases, but practically it does not matter since the meter sums all three phases.
There was some debate over the technical standard and meter type, German bureaucracy and lobbying!
@bstix
We fought to make it legal and solar from the balcony just works. You plug the device into your regular 220V AC outlet.
Wikpedia has pictures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balcony/_solar/_power
In Germany you can buy those in home-improvement stores or online. Your local lidl or aldi might have one occassionally.
@bstix @just_an_average_joe
It's the same grid as most of Europe. AC 3 phases 50 hz 230/400 V.
Other places can do the same, but it's a legal issue rather than technical. It's difficult to tax.