Setting up a Plug&Play Solar at home

Have you heard of Plug&Play Panels? Or Plug-inverters? Micro-inverters? Or Gorilla panels? These are types of small panels (with inverters) that you can simply connect to a socket in your home for them to start generating electricity. They are great for people who don’t want to go through paperwork or call an electrician, or for those who don’t have a whole roof for solar, but still want to do their part for the environment and additionally — save a bit of cash!

Last weekend we put up some of those panels in my parents garden, which triggered quite a lot of interest and many questions from friends that I wanted to share here as well.

How it all started

This is all the fault of my childhood friend Lukas. He had been asking me repeatedly how he could put a solar panel on his rooftop terrace, just one or two, without having to go through a lot of pain. I have to admit I felt a little daft in not being able to give him a straightforward answer and even worse, I realised I have never gone through the process of buying and installing a panel for myself. So this year it’s time to change that.

Thinking about it, a brilliant entrepreneur sprung to mind. I met Rui and his fab team at European Utility Week 3 years ago. Their Portugese company BeON won the Free Electrons Programme with their amazingly robust plug&play micro-inverters. Although they usually work with local distributors unbelievably there weren’t any in Italy yet. So Rui told me, just send a request on our website and indeed they offered to send me a set directly, an opportunity we had to use! And since we were at it, I added one for my parents’ home as well (whether they want it or not ☺️).

The PV & Micro-inverter Kit

So here is how it works:

The panel generates a small amount of electricity (we measured 250W max and ~1.2kWh on a sunny day in Northern Italy in September) which is used in the household during day time and is mostly consumed by standby usage, think fridges, the TV, routers, etc… If a blackout occurs in the house or grid, the micro-inverter immediately triggers a safety protection function to stop injecting power. This is an important safety requirement for anybody working in the house or on the network outside the house.

All you need is to put it in the sun and plug it into a socket.

Each Kit costs 350 Euro (+TVA) and has the following items:

• 1 x 300W solar panel with dimensions of 164 x99 x 3.5cm (The weight of the panel plus frame and inverter when installed will be ~ 28kg)
• 1 x BeON ‘pluginverter’ pre-installed to the aluminum frame with all connectors
• 1 x Aluminum mounting frame (requires minimal assembly)
• 1 x ‘3in1’ fixings set — this can be used to attach the frame to either a railings style balcony, an exterior wall, or a ground/flat roof
• 1 x 5m cable to connect the kit to a standard EU socket

The real fun starts when you actually ‘see’ the power flowing. For this, you can add two options to observe how much your panel produces:

• A smart meter plug for indoor checking (my parents’ solution)
• A smart meter with Gateway that continuously sends data to a mobile app (Lukas solution)

Regulations & tax cuts

Note that in Italy, Plug&Play inverters have been introduced as part of CEI 0–21 regulation for < 350W nominal (Italy is much more conservative than in Germany where the limit is set to < 600W). Also, in Italy renewable energy devices can benefit from generous tax cuts from 50% up to 110%.

Getting our hands dirty

I have to say, installation was pretty straight forward. I expect anyone could do it, even without manual. An hour or two was enough to hang it onto the railing. Fixing it to a wall where drilling took a bit longer according to Lukas (who set up his panels a couple of weeks earlier). Note that you might need some extension cables to reach an outdoor or indoor plug.

Have a look at the photos of our installation at my parents’ last weekend:

The package arrived: panel, railings, micro-inverter, cable

Screwing the frame together

Finished frame

Hanging it onto the railing

My parent’s panel attached to railing (with mountain view)

Lukas’s panel went a step further drilling the panel frame into the wall on his rooftop terrace and digging up the cables.

Professional work hiding the cables under the lawn

Lukas’ panel on the rooftop terrace drilled onto the wall (note the delicious tomatoes above— they didn’t survive my visit)

So how much is it generating?

Energy meter we used at my parent’s to check that current is flowing and energy is being injected

Print-screens of the monitoring app linked to Lukas’ panel

Proud owners of a beautiful panel

I expect everyone going into this has the same questions and fears, especially without the assistance of an expert: is it safe? Is it allowed? Will it look ugly? What are the neighbours gonna say? We certainly did! However we are now the proud owners of a beautiful panel with no mishaps along the way. I actually couldn’t recommend it more!

To be practical for a moment, a couple of 300W panels is a tiny contribution, I understand many people may question whether it is worth the time and money, but for me it was. from this small community of happy solar panels owners, we say go for it. Even if just a small impact in the grand scheme of things, it has initiated loads of conversations and discussions and will produce energy for decades to come. My parents and Lukas are really happy with their panels, no troubles so far and they really enjoy checking once in a while to see how their panel is ‘working’ for them.

Special thanks to Lukas for initiating this, Daniel for being the accomplice, and everyone who helped setting up the panel. And obviously BeON for sending us the kits and their amazingly persistent support through the regulation & technical jungle.

[Quick note by Annette, edited (full of solar panel envy) by Vicky. We work together to choose the best content and elevate each other’s work. More on us and our approach here]