Brilliant news!

[edent@mastodon.social]

Brilliant news! The UK's Labour Government are going to make "plug in solar" legal.

Grab some panels from Lidl, hang them off your balcony or out your window, plug them in to your mains. Done!

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-go-further-and-faster-in-becoming-energy-secure

#Solar

[sheddi@mstdn.party]

@Edent
For anyone reading this who thinks "you can't buy plugin solar panels from Lidl!" here's a link to Lidl Germany where that is definitely a thing:

https://www.lidl.de/h/stromerzeuger/h10031840?pageId=10067761%2F10067532%2F10031840&sort=price

[jtonline@mastodon.me.uk]

@Edent Nice! I foresee a shed upgrade coming. #ShedWorking

[sheddi@mstdn.party]

@Edent
Also, I need to tag @balkonsolar here. He's been promoting this in Germany for some time, and wrote to Ed Milliband last year to try and get some movement on it in the UK.

[kevin@fedi.kevinisageek.org]

@Edent sadly I don't have any place to put solar but good news nonetheless

[discontinuity@infosec.exchange]

@Edent this is such great news! Thanks for sharing.

[mossman@social.vivaldi.net]

@Edent this could be the start of something big. As someone renting a house with a large garden and paved area against a south-west facing wall, this is very interesting...

[oneinterestingfact@mastodon.ie]

@Edent

If I'm reading this correctly this allows consumers to feed solar into the grid. Do they get paid for doing it or is it just a case of if the sun's shining you might want to put your washing on?

[greem@cyberplace.social]

@Edent It is good news but I can't help feeling that we're all about to be scalped in terms of pricing.

I hope not, but big retail in the UK has a nasty habit of artificial scarcity and price bumps.

[sean@mastodon.me.uk]

@Edent

"The portable, plug-in solar panels can be placed in gardens or on walls and balconies"

Especially interesting since the price of a solar panels is competitive with the price of fence panels

[unchartedworlds@scicomm.xyz]

@Edent

Oooooh! I was wondering whether that could happen at some point!

[edent@mastodon.social]

@OneInterestingFact
Yes. If you have an export tariff you'll get paid for every kWh you pass back to the grid.

[oneinterestingfact@mastodon.ie]

@Edent I look forward to the govt's publicity making that clear.

[edent@mastodon.social]

@greem
You don't have to buy from a "big" retailer.
Plenty of manufacturers sell direct.

[fishidwardrobe@mastodon.me.uk]

@Edent excellent news if it turns out they don't screw it up.

but.

"plug it into your mains"? really? how does that work?

edit: even if it does work — how would i know it was doing anything?

edit^2: the relevant search term here is "G98". i'm still very confused what the hell this is, but it is a thing, in some areas.

[sinvega@mas.to]

@greem @Edent lidl specifically were very slow to raise prices when eg tesco jacked theirs up 40% overnight (and then again a few months later). Not that I think they're saints, but they seem to get that people plain don't have money.

Hopefully that means we'll start seeing them show up in lidl's aisle of shite

[khleedril@cyberplace.social]

@Edent That's great. We could do with plug-in battery packs too.

[renardboy@mastodon.social]

@Edent I *love* this. These ultra low-friction options are absolutely key to popular adoption in the early stages.

[walrus@toot.wales]

@OneInterestingFact @Edent

I look forward to the government ever making anything clear.

[edent@mastodon.social]

@Walrus What did your MP and Senedd member say when you complained to them about this?