“If there was a cheap and easy way to sell power back to the power company, it would likely increase sales of wind / hydro / solar. Having your own power generating might come in handy if tshf.”
I don’t disagree at all. To do that, though, you’d need a synchronous inverter [google it] which is a fair chunk more expensive than vanilla inverters. The AC power you’d feed back into the line/grid has to be properly phased with the native phase of the power line feeding your home.
There are many aspects of self-power-generation that complicated when you want to sell power back to your utility vs just keep your little “island” going. For example, you have to be able to shut off that “sell back” capability if there’s a problem with your power line, because you could fry a guy working on the power lines. Is that likely? No, but it would be made more likely by having scores of folks who were feeding power back into the grid. Point being, there has to be a facility to disconnect power from feeding back, and it has to be smart in the sense that it isn’t left to the attention or memory of a numbnut...it has to be automated. This isn’t hard to do in reality, any competent package installation would cover this.
I truly do not disparage anyone who wishes to get themselves off the grid, but it ain’t no piece of cake, nor is it cheap.
I'm pretty sure this feature is required on all inverters. It's not a separate Frankenstein switch on the wall in the basement.
I did look up synchronous inverter. It appears that it’s the same as a “grid tie” inverter. Grid tie inverters don’t seem to be that rare or too expensive. Here’s one on ebay for $560 and it comes with a solar panel.
Now, if you can buy a grid tie inverter to hook up to your exercise bicycle, and the grid tie inverter uses standard electrical outlets (this one does), I’m not sure why you’d need a special outlet.