cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/19852594
Edit: Be aware that some people try to post misinformation here, such as that such plants are not safe in the case of a power failure (untrue), or that they are not economical (untrue, their advantage is that they have very low installation costs).
No one is powering their fridge with it. 99,9 % of all buildings in Germany including households are very well grid connected. The North Korea comparison seems really far fetched. It’s just a simple way to 1) have small consumer money be invested in local energy production while 2) making energy production a bit greener. No one with a Balkonsolaranlage is cutting the cable to the grid. Everyone without their own mini Solaranlage is also perfectly able to keep phones charged. The Balkonsolaranlages just help a little bit, if you then also for example run the laundry on a sunny afternoon… The biggest gain imo is cultural: raising public awareness about energy, prices, foreign dependency, timing of big appliance usage…