As a homeowner in a detached house, installing solar, is a fairly straightforward project. Yes perhaps the whole three inspector thing is a bit much, but it is doable at a reasonable cost (quote an earlier blog). But a third of Canadians rent (source), with perhaps another sixth living in Condominiums (source). Try as they might, almost half of Canadians cannot enjoy a solar system of their own, like I can on my own roof. Balcony solar might be a solution to this, lets discuss and review further.
There is nothing stopping you my dear reader, to enjoy a solar and a battery system of your own. What is currently difficult is some integration with your home’s power system. While pushing energy back to the grid, is an essential component of paying for your investment, there is still an opportunity for renters and condo owners to get in on the solar fun.
Why not get yourself a small portable battery, like I did back in 2023 (source). My kitchen battery has solar inputs, that could be used with a variety of solar panels, including a foldable design.
It is possible that your unit might allow for a sensible installation. There are most certainly limits on what can be physically attached to a balcony, after all that balcony might be many floors up, so be careful. But perhaps something can sit on a floor somewhere and still catch some sunlight.
Placing the battery in the kitchen puts you close to appliances that could benefit from discounted power, it certainly helped me move to the ultralow overnigth rate, as I could shift some of my cooking onto the battery, it can certainly help you. Ecoflow has since then come out with more products and more choices. There is now a 2 kWh unit available that would have meant more hot chocholate for the kids. EchoFlo is certainly not the only game in town, competition abounds from Pila, Blueetti, Jackery to name a few. Many of these offer small batteries (around 1-2 kWh), along with solar panels in a competitively priced package, for about 1k CAD (source).
Things might also be changing, Balcony solar is permitted in a few states now, and has caught on in Europe (source), eventually I hope, our regulators will see the light too, but until then, you can certainly enjoy some benefits right now.
Electric car adventures 