a) There are stainless steel zip ties, which would be perfectly suitable for the task. The article does not specify the type of zipties used. If they used plastic ones, I'd agree with you.
b) No, the microinverters used in balcony solar need to synchronize to the grid's frequency. If the power is shut off, they cannot synchronize and won't work. Some older microinverters where retrofitted with additional safety switches but current ones have them included.
c) Yeah, that's a valid concern, where I live the maximum allowed power you are allowed to feed into the grid is 800 watt, which is okay considering the common electrical installation, though we use 230V. With 120V amperage doubles with the same power, so a sensible limit would probably be diffrent, but I don't know whats commonly used in america
No, thats wrong. Subscriptions just provide a continuous revenue stream and in long term larger profits than a one-of purchse.
It actually has the opposite effect, people that own, have something to lose, people who don't own have nothing to lose. And you do not want to anger people, that have nothing to lose.