alt Hacker NewsDepends on your jurisdiction, but roof mounted solar installs generally don't need building permits. Electrical permits on the other hand are almost always required.
If you actually want to offset cost, don't buy a portable battery pack. Get an AIO solar inverter and a server rack battery. They're generally plug and play - wire the panels to it, connect the battery.
If you want to run your home loads, the cheapest/simplest way (without going grid-tie) is to have an electrician add a critical loads panel supplied by your inverter output, then plug your inverter in to the grid for backup (in case no solar or batteries are low).
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cheapest/simplest way (without going grid-tie) is to have an electrician add a critical loads panel supplied
Cheaper way is have electrician wire a manual transfer switch at the existing panel. When you loose power, turn off non-essential breakers and then flip transfer switch.
"If you want to run your home loads, the cheapest/simplest way (without going grid-tie) is to have an electrician add a critical loads panel supplied by your inverter output ..."
No, that's actually not the simplest.
Far simpler is to install a solar breaker in your main panel and a physical lockout[1] between utility power and the new solar breaker.
There is no ATX, there are no smarts, the power goes out and you flip two breakers. There is nothing simpler than this.
The beauty of this is, you can keep scaling up your solar generation, adding panels as the years go by, and you are never locked into these ridiculous "preferred breakers" sub-panels.
Will you have to be smart about your total power use while you are on solar ? Yes, you will - just don't run the dryer and the microwave at the same time.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/QYZZRS-Generator-Interlock-Compatible...