New Jersey becomes 9th state to legalize balcony solar

For years, solar power meant one thing: a roof you own, a permit, and an electrician's bill. That's starting to change. On Sept. 1, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a new law. It lets residents plug small solar panels directly into a regular wall outlet, no permit or electrician needed. New Jersey is now the ninth U.S. state to pass a law like this.

New Jersey joins Utah, Maine, Virginia, Colorado, Maryland, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Vermont. All of those states passed similar laws over roughly the past year. The panels covered by these laws are small, capped at 1,200 watts. That's about enough to offset a slice of one household's daily electric bill. That's a fraction of what a full rooftop system produces. But rooftop solar has never worked for renters, or for anyone whose landlord says no. This is aimed squarely at that gap. Millions of apartment dwellers have had zero path to generating their own power, until now.

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Will more states follow? Dozens of other states have similar bills pending in their legislatures right now. New Jersey likely won't be the last. There's a real gap before any of this helps New Jersey residents, though. The law doesn't take effect for about six months, so nobody there can legally plug one in yet. The bigger test will be adoption. Passing a law is easy. Getting enough renters to actually buy these kits is what would prove this isn't just symbolic.