Vermont could become the next state to legalize small, inexpensive solar power arrays that could allow many more households to harness the sun.
At a press conference in Montpelier Sept. 17, Vermont Sen. Anne Watson (D/P, Washington District), the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG), the Vermont Natural Resources Council, and portable solar nonprofit Bright Saver announced a campaign to pass legislation to enable plug-in solar in Vermont.
“These portable solar systems, which can just plug right into a wall, will create an opportunity for renters to access cheap renewable energy in a way that Vermont hasn’t seen before,” Watson said. “Vermonters want practical, affordable climate solutions. This campaign is about empowering residents, cutting energy costs and reducing emissions while updating our rules to match the realities of new, safe, proven technologies.”
Also called balcony, backyard, or portable solar, the technology can benefit not only renters but also condo owners and homeowners for whom a rooftop array isn’t practical. Like rooftop solar, it allows residents to cut their energy bills and carbon footprints, but at a far lower up-front cost.
Watson will introduce a bill in the next legislative session. The bill aims to establish a “right to plug in” such a device without applications or fees; to require safety standards; and to provide rules for users, landlords, and utilities.
Utah has already passed a law explicitly allowing plug-in solar, and Bright Saver is in conversation with lawmakers in a dozen other states, according to co-founder Rupert Mayer.
What is Portable Solar?
Portable solar arrays consist of one or several solar panels that can be propped up on the lawn or hung over a balcony. Like appliances, customers can buy them, set them up, and plug them in, via a microinverter, to any 120-volt outlet or a battery. No professional installation or electrical panel upgrade is required.
Under the Vermont bill, devices that generate up to 1200 watts would fall under this category.
The technology has become immensely popular in Germany following recent regulatory updates. Currently, one in 10 households there uses it, according to Mayer, and the country’s safety track record with portable solar is “pretty much immaculate,” he said.
Solar technology has matured in recent years, lowering equipment costs. As energy prices rise, portable solar could become an important part of the U.S. energy mix even as the Trump administration removes clean-energy incentives.
“We’re about 10 years behind Germany,” said Ben Edgerly Walsh, climate and energy program director at VPIRG. “If you look at the penetration of this sort of thing in Germany, you could imagine a few dozen megawatts of this over the next 10 years or so coming online.”
The Odds of Success
Utah’s portable solar bill sailed through the legislature — there were zero ‘no’ votes and a few abstentions — and was signed into law by Republican governor Spencer Cox.
Portable solar speaks to a broad spectrum of values and priorities, Mayer said.
“While for some it is all about climate, about energy, justice, about equity, for others, it is about freedom, it is about independence, it is about deregulation and about doing in your backyard what you want to do without the government interfering,” he said. “I think it’s quite befitting that Utah and Vermont, two states that look quite different in many ways, are now at the tip of the spear of this movement for the United States.”
Watson, who chairs the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy, said she is “in dialogue” with the Scott administration about the bill. She and Walsh each expressed optimism the bill could pass in one legislative session.
“This was unanimously supported in Utah. That, I think, means that the law speaks for itself,” Watson told The Bridge. “At its core, this is about making processes simpler. And I think that’s something that we can all get behind, across parties.”
“We think of this as a consumer appliance”
The Utah law requires that portable solar devices meet National Electrical Code (NEC) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) standards. Currently, individual components of portable solar arrays do carry UL certification, but not the systems as a whole.
That means that actually setting one up in Utah remains a gray area. Just one vendor is currently selling there, Mayer said. He said he doesn’t have numbers on uptake in that state.
The Vermont bill as drafted requires UL certification for any portable solar device, Watson said. Underwriters Laboratories is working on that, Walsh said.
Mayer added, “I can’t really speak for UL, but we are hearing definitely months, not years. We are quite confident that it will be this year.”
As for meeting NEC standards, Mayer said, there is “debate around it, but we think of this as a consumer appliance, and UL really governs consumer appliances, while the NEC governs electrical installations.”
Savings from Small-Scale Solar
In Germany, where companies compete to sell the devices, electricity from portable solar costs about 60 cents per watt, according to Mayer. The technology pays for itself there in under two years. He estimated a three-year payback in the United States several years after mass adoption.
Mayer’s Vermont trip from Bright Saver’s California base includes a stop in Brattleboro to speak with locals about a possible pilot there.
Stephen Dotson, sustainability coordinator for the town of Brattleboro, told The Bridge he is excited about the technology’s ability to fill gaps in access and equity, such as for town residents who live in prefabricated homes and are heavily burdened by energy costs.
“[Portable solar] could make a very big difference for people who have been left out of the energy transition,” Dotson said. “Sustainability should not be a privilege.”
