14.6 What makes it actually useful, and who it's really for

A battery is what makes it actually useful. Plug-in solar has two big problems: the midday power it generates can't all be used and gets given to the grid, and in the early evening when power is most expensive it isn't generating. So a 1,200 W unit that makes 5 kWh a day might only let you actually use two or three. The fix is to add a battery plus an anti-backflow device: the anti-backflow device sits on the main line, measures whole-home usage in real time, and lets the inverter output only that much — surplus charges the battery first and is released at the evening peak. And since the law caps AC output at 1,200 W, not panel wattage, you can over-panel to fill the battery. That way nearly every kWh is self-used and shifted to the priciest hours, and a rough estimate is that annual savings could double — though a battery-equipped system also needs certification.

Who is it for? For renters, apartment dwellers, and anyone with no roof to use, this is the first time they can legally run solar, and with a battery, saving a few hundred dollars a year is real. But for single-family homeowners with a few-hundred-dollar monthly bill, it doesn't solve the core problem: the 1,200 W cap is only about one-sixth of a normal rooftop system and can't carry big loads like AC or an EV; there are no compliant products yet; and the exemption only runs to 2030. If your roof can take it, a normal-sized solar + battery system is still what actually drives the bill down.

(An aside: California passed this law and most solar companies went quiet — because there's no money in it for them. A $1,000–2,000 product you order online and plug in yourself doesn't even cover the cost of one sales visit, a world away from the tens-of-thousands-of-dollars model built on sales commissions and financing cuts.)