New Jersey's plug-in solar law is signed and takes effect in March; California's has sat unsigned on the governor's desk since 31 August
Almost everything else on this beat is about paying people better for a roof they already own. Plug-in solar is the only mechanism in the file that reaches a tenant, and it works by removing a permission rather than adding a payment: no interconnection application, no utility sign-off, and, the provision that actually does the work, no landlord or homeowners association veto. At 1,200 watts the argument is plainly not about grid impact. It is about whether generating any electricity at all, on a balcony, for yourself, requires somebody else's consent. Unanimous passage in New Jersey and a 73 to 0 Assembly vote in California suggest the answer is far less contested than a decade of interconnection practice implies, once a certification standard exists to answer the safety objection. The open question now is not whether the right exists but whether anyone exercises it, which is where a six-month commencement, a 14-day notice requirement and the absence of any named remedy for a tenant facing an obstructive landlord begin to matter.
Governor Mikie Sherrill signed the Garden State Balcony Solar Act on 1 September 2026. New Jersey residents may now install and use portable solar generation devices totalling up to 1,200 watts at a service address without a permit, without their utility's approval, and without an interconnection application. The devices plug into a standard 120 volt outlet through a microinverter and adapter. The act takes effect six months after enactment, on 1 March 2027.
The bill, S2368 and its Assembly companion A4836, passed both chambers unanimously on 30 June 2026. It carries the citation P.L.2026, c.82. [UNVERIFIED: the citation appears on BillTrack50 and in search-index text and was not confirmed against the New Jersey statutes; the enrolled text at pub.njleg.gov has refused the connection on every attempt across three runs, so the commencement clause has not been read directly either.]
What the act actually removes
Qualifying devices are exempt from utility interconnection and metering requirements, including certain fees, approvals and equipment mandates. Municipalities may not prohibit them or require a permit for them, although building and electrical code compliance still applies.
The operative provision is the third one. Landlords, homeowners associations and similar governing bodies may not broadly prohibit the devices on a leased premises or a unit, including balconies and patios. They keep the power to impose reasonable restrictions on size, placement and manner of placement. The user must give written notice and safety documentation at least 14 days before installing.
Safety is handled by certification rather than by permitting. Devices must comply with the National Electrical Code and the State Uniform Construction Code, be listed under UL 3700, the outline of investigation for interactive plug-in PV equipment, and prevent electricity feeding back to the grid during an outage. Devices of 400 watts or less are exempt from the listing and code requirements.
Governor Sherrill's release calls balcony solar "a practical, easy-to-use tool that can help families save money". Senator John McKeon, quoted in the same release, says the law will "make it easier for households, including renters, to access affordable solar energy". [UNVERIFIED: the Governor's office names Senator McKeon and Assemblyman Robert Karabinchak as sponsors; the Senate Democrats release names Senators McKeon and Bob Smith, and the two were not reconciled.]
California passed the same thing three weeks earlier and nothing has happened since
SB 868, Senator Scott Wiener's Plug and Play Solar Act, is the closer analogue: up to 1,200 watts into a standard outlet, no utility approval, no interconnection application, no utility fees. The California legislature's own record shows the Senate passing it 35 to 1 on 19 May 2026, the Assembly 73 to 0 on 25 August, the Senate concurring in amendments 36 to 4 on 26 August, enrolment on 28 August, and presentation to Governor Newsom on 31 August at 6 p.m.
As of 18 September the record shows nothing after that. No signature, no veto, no chapter number. His constitutional deadline is 30 September 2026, after which an unsigned bill becomes law without him.
The differences from New Jersey are worth noting, because California did not simply delete the paperwork. KQED reports that SB 868 replaces the interconnection application with a free online registration form rather than with nothing, and eliminates interconnection fees it puts at 100 to 800 dollars. The utilities engaged on the detail rather than on the principle: PG&E raised that certain safety requirements would not be enforced until 2030, San Diego Gas and Electric cited malfunction risk to workers and customers, and Southern California Edison moved from opposition to neutral after amendments. Labour unions dropped their opposition once the bill was made explicitly subject to electrical codes. Cora Stryker, a co-founder of Bright Saver, is quoted saying "the devil in the details makes it not a home run".
New York is in the same queue. The SUNNY Act passed the legislature on 28 May 2026 with the same 1,200 watt cap and is awaiting Governor Hochul, who has until the end of 2026.
How many states have done this is genuinely unclear
Coverage of the New Jersey signing says nine states have enacted plug-in solar laws. pv magazine itself said New Jersey would be the tenth when the bill passed in July. New York Almanack, writing in July, counted five states with signed laws, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Utah and Virginia, with Connecticut and New Hampshire awaiting executive action, and described New York as the eighth state to send such a bill to a governor. Colorado's cap is 1,920 watts, above the 1,200 watts most states have settled on.
These counts cannot all be right, and no tracker was read that reconciles them. [NEEDS DATA: a verified state-by-state list of enacted plug-in solar laws with citations.]
Why it matters
Almost everything else on this beat is about paying people better for a roof they already own. Net metering reform, export rates, virtual power plant compensation, storage incentives: every one of them presupposes a roof, and therefore presupposes a homeowner. Plug-in solar is the only mechanism in the file that reaches a tenant.
It also works differently. It does not add a payment, it removes a permission. No interconnection application, no utility sign-off, and the clause that does the real work, no landlord or homeowners association veto. At 1,200 watts, roughly a fifth of a typical residential rooftop system, the argument was never seriously about grid impact. It was about whether generating any electricity at all, on a balcony, for your own use, requires somebody else's consent.
The vote counts suggest that once a certification standard exists to answer the safety objection, the underlying question is not contested: unanimous in both New Jersey chambers, 73 to 0 in the California Assembly. A decade of interconnection practice implied otherwise.
What happens next is the part worth watching, and it is not legislative. New Jersey's right does not exist in practice until 1 March 2027. A tenant who wants to use it must give 14 days' written notice with safety documentation, and neither the Governor's release nor the available reporting names an enforcement route or a remedy if the landlord simply refuses, or imposes a restriction on placement that is restrictive in effect and reasonable on paper. A right that requires a tenant to litigate against a landlord is not the same as a right. [NEEDS DATA: installed count or sales volume of plug-in solar devices in any US state that has legalised them.]
What is still unknown
Whether Newsom signs SB 868, and if he does, how quickly the registration process the bill substitutes for interconnection actually opens.
How a 1,200 watt device interacts with net metering or net billing in New Jersey: whether export is metered, ignored or forbidden.
Who enforces the landlord and homeowners association provision, and what a tenant does when it is ignored.
How many states have enacted these laws, which is currently reported three different ways.
Whether anything equivalent exists in India, where PM Surya Ghar reaches only households that own a roof.
Sources
Office of the Governor of New Jersey, 1 September 2026: https://www.nj.gov/governor/news/2026/20260901a.shtml
California Legislature, SB 868 bill status, read 18 September 2026: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB868
KQED, 27 August 2026, updated 1 September 2026: https://www.kqed.org/science/2001842/california-lawmakers-greenlight-solar-panels-you-can-plug-into-the-wall
pv magazine, on the New Jersey signing: https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/09/02/new-jersey-legalizes-plug-in-solar-up-to-1200-w/
BillTrack50, New Jersey S2368: https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1929971
New York Almanack, July 2026, on the SUNNY Act and the state count: https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/2026/07/balcony-solar-plug-in-power-hochul/
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