At last: renters can get a home battery

 Home batteries and their inverters/transformers are normally fixed to your wall, need costly installation by an electrician, and can't (cheaply) be taken away with you when you move house.  So, if you live in rental accommodation, it's pointless putting in batteries, even though they could reduce your electricity bill by a third or more.

 A UK power utility, Octopus Energy, has launched a plug-in home battery.  So, no separate transformer.  No drilling.  No electrician.  No planning permit.  A plug which you push into a socket and then the battery charges and discharges according to your programming.  Octopus's batteries will charge from the national grid when electricity is cheap, and discharge into the dwelling's grid when it is expensive.  According to Octopus, in the UK, it will pay for itself in 3 years, even if you don't have solar.  And when you move house, you can take it with you.  That's how simple it is.

Combining plug-in batteries and plug-in solar will dent your electricity bill while simultaneously reducing emissions and stabilising the grid.

It's a brilliant idea.  Let's get the regulations up and running as soon as possible.  Everywhere.

Plug-in solar is safe

Plug-in solar is a solar panel with an inbuilt inverter/transformer which converts the direct current (DC) of the solar panel into alternating current (AC) at the correct voltage of your home system.  All you have to do is put the solar panel in the sun, for example on a balcony or carport roof, and plug it in to your house's grid via a plug (socket).  It is widely used in Germany and other continental countries, some states in America have legalised it, and now it has been thoroughly tested in the UK, and found to be perfectly safe, provided it conforms to the regulations.

You can't run a house off a single panel, but it helps reduce your electricity bill, and it allows people who don't own their roof (flat-dwellers or renters) to share in the solar revolution.  A 400 watt solar panel (~1 metre x 0.7 metres) will provide about 1/3rd of your electricity demand during the solar peak (1-2 hours either side of local midday).  Portable house batteries (I'll do a post on them, shortly) will allow solar power to run your house when demand peaks, between 5-9 p.m.   In practice, many are at work when the sun is strongest, but need power at home in the evening.  So batteries plus plug-in solar will make a real difference to high electricity bills.

I intend to use a couple of plug-in solar panels to extend my rooftop panels when it is legalised in Australia.  I tried to add panels to the existing system on my roof, and was told that I would have to junk it entirely and pay for a brand-new system, even though what I had was working perfectly.  Insane—solar panels go on working for 30 years, though inverters only last 15.  But I had just put a new (larger) inverter in, and would have had to chuck that out, too!

This is a big step—plug-in solar is safe.  Your house won't burn down.  Electricians working on your electricity system won't electrocute themselves, nor will electricians working on the "poles and wires" in the street.  

After you've watched the video, check the comments too.  Some useful advice there.