A new deal on balcony solar just dropped in the US

A nonprofit called Bright Saver is now selling balcony solar kits at cost, with no markup, starting around $285 for a 180-watt system and $414 for a 360-watt system. These are plug-in solar panels that connect to a standard outlet and feed power directly into your home's wiring, lowering electricity bills without a rooftop installation. To get the discount price, you need a $29 annual membership (renewal is optional); without it, kits cost $499 and $699. Orders are open in 47 states now, with shipping expected in August.

The panels won't replace a full rooftop system (the 360-watt kit is about 5 percent the size of a typical home array), but they cost less per watt than the national average for rooftop solar and than most other balcony kits on the market. Bright Saver estimates its kits could pay for themselves through bill savings in as little as 2.5 years in places with high electricity rates and ideal conditions, though payback could take seven to ten years in states with cheaper electricity, like North Dakota. Both Bright Saver and an independent researcher offer online calculators to estimate savings based on your own electricity rate.

One thing to check before ordering: Bright Saver says it won't ship to Maine, New York, or Vermont, because those states require the whole solar system, not just its parts, to carry safety certification, which balcony kits don't yet have. Other states, including Utah, only require the individual components to be certified.