Re:Plug-In Solar Panels Starting to Sprout in U.S. Backyards
by lokar on Sunday August 09, 2026 @03:42PM
(#49235001)
Also, utility line workers always treat everything as live until they isolate it and confirm it’s not live (or do the work live in some cases).
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Re:Plug-In Solar Panels Starting to Sprout in U.S. Backyards
by amluto on Sunday August 09, 2026 @04:33PM
(#49235543)
I once chatted with some line workers working nearby, and I asked them what they did about residential solar. They said they didn’t particularly care about anti-islanding: if they needed to, they would deliberately short all the customer wires to ground, and if anything hadn’t turned off, then breakers would trip.
Re:Plug-In Solar Panels Starting to Sprout in U.S. Backyards
by t0mas88 on Sunday August 09, 2026 @06:08PM
(#49236627)
They even do that to large transmission lines. First shutdown/isolate, then connect to ground or short circuit. If anyone then accidentally turns something back on it will fail immediately.
A few years ago a transmission line in the Netherlands was energized while it shouldn't be, during maintenance work, which resulted in the whole line starting to smoke, sag and spark: https://youtu.be/nyjCrP38ICc