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Why I want plug-in solar

• Solar accessibility

February 23, 2026

When I remodeled my home a few years ago, I was excited about the opportunity to go solar. There was just one problem. Well, four actually: three maple trees in my yard and an ash tree right on the property line in my neighbors’ yard. I had a couple of installers come out to look, but both told me the same thing. Rooftop solar wasn’t viable where I live because of the shade these trees provide. 

Since I wasn’t able to go solar, I opted to install a heat pump as a way to cut my energy costs and carbon footprint.  Still, I wondered if there might be another way. It turns out there is: plug-in solar.

Plug-in solar would enable me to put a set of panels in a sunny spot in my yard and connect them to my home through a wall outlet. Those electrons flow to appliances in my home and reduce what I need to buy from my utility. A typical plug-in system can cut electricity bills by several hundred dollars per year. The average payback time for a system purchased today is about five years. Plug-in solar has been popular for several years now over in Europe. There, you can just go to your local hardware store or big box retailer, buy a system, bring it home, plug it in, and you’re lowering your energy bill with clean energy in the time it might take you to order a pizza and have it delivered. In Germany, about 1-in-10 households have it. 

I can see why. Now that I’ve retired, I try to stay below $200 per month in utilities (something those trees in the yard do help with in the summer). Plug-in solar is a way for me to meet that target. It would generate enough electricity to power my refrigerator and connect to a battery for storage.  

Okay, so why am I spending my time writing about plug-in solar? Can’t I just go out and buy a system? 

Well, not yet. In Nevada, like in most states, plug-in solar requires the same interconnection process that larger systems require. This adds unnecessary costs that have stopped a market for plug-in solar from growing. Last year, our neighbors to the east in Utah passed the first bill that cuts this red tape. More than twenty states have filed bills to follow suit. Rooftop is the way to go if you can, but there are a lot of folks like me who can’t. So we’re looking to plug-in solar as our option. If you’d like to see plug-in solar available in your state, learn how you can contact your lawmakers to educate them about plug-in solar.