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People who install rooftop solar and/or residential battery systems assume they will be able to power their homes if there is a power outage. Much to their surprise, they find that is not true unless their system is able to be disconnected from the grid — a process known as islanding. The reason is obvious if you think about it. The people who repair the grid after an outage want to be certain the wires they are working on are not energized so they don’t get shocked while they are up in their bucket trucks.
To be able to use the electricity from your solar panels during an outage, you need a switch installed in your electrical panel that disconnects your home or business from the electrical grid until repairs are completed. Not only are the automatic disconnect switches expensive — a Generac 200 amp transfer switch is $809 at Home Depot — but getting it installed can cost a lot of money depending on the age of your electrical panel. There are manual lockout devices that are much cheaper, but they require the owner to go down in the basement in the dark to find the electrical panel. Not everyone is comfortable poking around inside their panel with a flashlight stuck in their teeth.
ConnectDER has a low cost alternative, however, and it is brilliant. DER stands for distributed energy resources. ConnectDER now has two products available that can save home and business owners thousands of dollars. Both are meter socket adapters — devices that are installed between the meter box and the meter. One, called IslandDER, provides that critical islanding capability needed to allow those with rooftop solar systems to use their self-generated electricity during outages. The device is UL listed and NEC approved, and here’s the best part — it costs less than $600. It still needs to be installed by a licensed electrician, but the process is simple and fast. Pull the meter, plug the IslandDER into the meter box, then plug the meter into the IslandDER. Connect the feed from your solar system and you’re good to go until the power comes back on. Sweet!
“It shouldn’t take an expensive electrical panel upgrade to connect solar panels or electric vehicle chargers to your home,” the company says. “ConnectDER meter socket adapters were designed to make it easy. Think of MSAs as a power adapter for your home. With the help of a licensed electrician or participating utility meter technician, MSAs are easily installed between the meter socket and utility meter, enabling easy solar and EV interconnection.”
ConnectDER also makes a meter socket adapter that allows EV owners to charge their vehicles without the need for an expensive electrical panel upgrade. Simply power your charger directly from the ConnectDER EV device and you’re done. The pain and expense of getting your electrical panel rewired to connect an EV charger is eliminated, and the permitting process is simplified, which means lower costs for homeowners.
The company has just announced that it has completed a $34 million Series D funding round, which will allow it to accelerate its market expansion and product development. The round was led by Decarbonization Partners, a partnership between BlackRock and Singapore-based Temasek, with participation from MassMutual Ventures, both new investors. Existing investors Avista Development, Clean Energy Ventures, Energy Innovation Capital, Evergy Ventures, LG Technology Ventures, and Zoma Capital also participated. Decarbonization Partners chief investment officer Meghan Sharp said the ConnectDER team “built an elegant solution that solves a major adoption pain point for customers, enabling and accelerating affordable home electrification in North America.”
“With this latest Series D funding we’re poised to not only expand our existing markets but also our offerings by bringing a transformative solution for energy storage systems to the market,” said Ivo Steklac, CEO of ConnectDER. “Our forthcoming IslandDER enables homes to disconnect and reconnect from the grid enabling customers to harness stored energy from solar plus battery systems or EVs providing innovative backup power and resilience to market at an incredibly competitive cost point.”
In the US, 60 million homes lack the capacity for solar, EV charging, or resilient energy solutions without costly equipment upgrades, according to Rewiring America. ConnectDER claims its products can be installed in minutes and cost much less than upgrading a home’s electrical panel or utility interconnect. Depending on how old the existing electrical service is, a panel upgrade could cost thousands of dollars. The company claims that by simplifying interconnections, its products can reduce training complexity and installation errors.
ConnectDER plans to use this investment for market expansion, scaling manufacturing, and continued product development. With over 25,000 adapters in operation and approved for use in many states, ConnectDER said it expects to be selling nationwide in the next few years. In California, both PG&E and SDG&E are promoting innovative vehicle-to-grid and Builder’s Express programs designed to make the interconnection process simpler for home and business customers. In 2023, New Jersey passed legislation that requires public electric utilities in the Garden State to authorize the installation and operation of a “meter collar adapter,” as long as they meet specific requirements for safety, suitability, and adherence to the National Electrical Code. The new law is an important step forward for residents who want to connect rooftop solar, battery storage, and electric vehicle chargers to their homes more easily.
The ConnectDER IslandDER is a UL listed “plug-and-play” meter socket adapter designed to safely integrate a variety of energy resources and tie them into the distribution grid at the meter. After this latest funding round, the company said it was planning to make meter adapters widely available throughout most of the United States. Here is a map showing the states where its products have been approved for use:
Inserting a device between the meter and the electrical feed to a home or business makes so much sense it’s a wonder people didn’t think of it sooner. Even if you don’t need to island your solar system, just using a meter socket adapter to feed an EV charger is an elegant solution to what can be an annoying problem. But like all inventions, it has to be tested and approved by all relevant authorities before it can be installed at your home. There is a link on the ConnectDER website that lets you check whether its products have been approved for use in your area.
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