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UK supermarkets to start selling plug-in solar panels for £500. But there’s a catch
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
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Yes, I absolutely have understood that. I also understand that that means the assumptions that a ring main are built on - that the distribution of load around the ring will be even in relation to the supply point - no longer apply.
In a ringmain, any individual stretch of the inwall wiring is under-rated. A single two-gang wall socket (with 2 perfectly legal and standard compliant 13A fused appliances/multisockets plugged in) can draw more current then the cable in the wall is rated for. It is "safe" because it relies on the current being drawn, on average, equally from both sides of the ring. If you plug a generator in that is closer to the socket, that is no longer true - more current will be drawn on the shorter path to the generator than the longer path back to the fuse box. An already marginal system is now unsafe.
I'm not saying it can't be done, and I hope it will be done, but it works in Gemany is a fucking stupid comment that we keep seeing but is irrelevant because Germany (and almost everywhere else on Earth) has a completely different domestic electrical system.
13A at 230 Volt are 3 kilowatt..So, you'd need to connect 6 kilowatt. Today, the only common home appliances that draw so much power are electric stoves. (Yes there was the idea to heat more electrically using nuclear power, in the 1970s) The other way would be to heat the whole flat with electricity. That is possible in some circumstances (heating broken), but does not happen at times where you have a lot of solar power.
And on top of that, the problem with the ring main system that you describe is not specific to using balcony solar. You can bring down any extra risk back to the previous level by reducing the main fuse by 3.5 A, or about 10%.
Are you labouring under the misapprehension that the sun doesn't shine in the winter? That sounds like fossil fuel industry FUD...
Look, why - national stereotypes notwithstanding - are you apparently incapable of saying "oh, right, I don't realise that, I understand that comparisons with Germany are not particularly useful, but I hope they find a way to make it work", instead of endlessly doubling down on your pig-headed ignorance?
National stereotypes notwithstanding.
Looks like this.
By the way - Explanation of the term FUD. Who is appealing to fear here, citing theoretical risk with no actual facts?