California gives the green light to balcony solar

California has signed three new energy laws that could matter for homeowners, especially those who cannot install rooftop solar. The biggest change for individual households is a new law legalizing "balcony solar" — small plug-in solar panels that sit on a balcony, patio, or backyard and plug directly into a regular household outlet to offset some electricity use. Systems up to 1,200 watts are allowed, as long as they meet electrical codes, carry safety certification (such as UL), and include protection so they don't send power into the grid during an outage. Utilities can no longer demand an interconnection agreement, advance approval, or fees for these systems — just a simple online notice with the address, make, model, and size. This utility exemption is set to expire January 1, 2030.

The other two laws focus on the broader grid rather than individual homes. One directs regulators to make it easier for networks of home batteries, EVs, and smart thermostats to count toward utilities' power-reliability requirements, giving these "virtual power plants" more of a formal role by June 30, 2028. The other requires large utilities to publish data on how full their local grids are and to consider cheaper fixes, like batteries or shifting usage to off-peak hours, before building new infrastructure — with the stated goal of slowing bill increases.

None of this requires homeowners to do anything right away, but it opens a lower-cost, lower-hassle path to small-scale solar for people who could not previously install it, and it could eventually affect utility bills depending on how regulators and utilities carry out the new rules.