DECC give early adopters a break - important - please read!

[Nicedad]

Well... for better or worse, I decided to register via SSE. Must say I quite impresssed, there are emails and letters wizzing about. Phoned them on the 3rd March, they sent forms via email. I emailed the completed forms back, they sent me an email yesterday stating that they had forwarded to OFGEM and I have signed and returned a contract for payment of ROCs up to the 1st April.

Lunchtime today I am due to have the existing DNO meter changed for an input/export meter.

As to whether I get FITs or not ....don't know .... but I'm being positive and at the end of the day its small beer as the system is only 700wp.
 
     

[brackwell]

Nicedad,
Presume you are an existing customer of SSE ?  To go your route i was told i had to be a SSE customer first. The transfer to them would take 28 days by law so would have been too late.  Ken

[Nicedad]

Hi Brackwell,

Yes I am an existing customer, more by accident than design.

[brackwell]

Dear All,
The Conservatives have said that if elected they will change the rules governing the UK's imminent new feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme in order to ensure those businesses and households that have already installed on-site renewable energy technologies receive the same level of incentives as those deploying microgeneration systems for the first time.    If only politicians did what they say!
Ken

[Outtasight]

So it looks like off gridders will get 29.3p/kwh

Not quite sure what they mean here

My system is connected to a battery – can I still claim the Feed-in Tariff?

Yes you will be eligible to receive a generation tariff at the rate 29.3p/kWh. If your system is not fitted directly to a building but electricity generated is wired back to the building to be used on site, then you will be eligible to receive the tariff rate that is applicable for the type and capacity of the generating technology.

Does that mean a free standing array would get the full rate?

Still no news of how to meter off griders.

So dodgilly perched arrays plugged into an inverter sitting on the floor under a comfy chair and connected to a spiderweb of 4 gang adapters for "wired back use on site" are ok BUT properly installed roof mounted arrays plumbed into a wall mounted inverter and a consumer unit with parallel ring mains according to 17th Edition regs don't qualify for off grid generation tariffs?  Have they been tailoring government policy based on some treads here?  They get my vote!

On metering, are there off-gridders who only use DC?  Otherwise it's easy enough to fit an OFGEM approved total generation meter to the off-grid inverter output.  I might just get one and apply for the RO and see what happens in April... 

[Justme]

Otherwise it's easy enough to fit an OFGEM approved total generation meter to the off-grid inverter output.  I might just get one and apply for the RO and see what happens in April... 

Thats what I have done. I can also compare the power the MPPT says it made with the power through the mains meter & see what effect the charging losses are. (which I dont think I should get paid for as its a simple system loss just like controller & inverter inefficiency losses)

I have had to change how the power from the genny is distributed, so it now goes via its own consumer unit & ring main as a totally separate system.
(we had this in place as heavy loads have there own sockets direct from the genny so was simple to extend it)


It also means I need to monitor the weather & the battery condition to better match load & supply. I will also be fitting a second bat bank & inverter for use via genny based charging. That way in winter I can leave the solar bank fully charged & use the genny bank.

With the increase in our array size I think that we should be 100% solar from 1st March to 30th September ish, 40% in Feb & Oct, 15% in Jan & Nov & 10% in Dec.

[tange179]

Hi all,

Seems to suggest here that installs between July 09 and Mar 10, do not have to be MCS approved, follow the link 

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generate-your-own-energy/Sell-your-own-energy/Feed-in-Tariff-Clean-Energy-Cashback-scheme

John

[evan]

Dear All,
The Conservatives have said that if elected they will change the rules governing the UK's imminent new feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme in order to ensure those businesses and households that have already installed on-site renewable energy technologies receive the same level of incentives as those deploying microgeneration systems for the first time.    If only politicians did what they say!
Ken

My bet would be on them keeping the promise but asking for the grant back?   

TANSTAAFL

[Richard Owen]

My bet would be on them not doing anything for a while, then announcing a review, then announcing that the people who are installing under the new scheme far outweigh the early adopters who are then either

1) ignored
2) thrown a bone of some nominal value but less than the mainstream (perhaps because we've already had so much benefit from the system.)

[petertc]

Evan,

I don't mind that at all guess what i did diy so no Grant 

To be honest i was a little surprised at the cross over period of being able to claim grant and FIT's.

Better thing would be FIT for new install post April 2010 and for Non grant installations pre 2010 ( wind Hydro CHP PV) FIT also at the new rate.
Systems that have had grant pre 2010 just get the roc roll carry over rate. 
Should be easy to do by looking at the Grants that have been made against the ROC's for a given address.

I'm sue everyone would be happy then !!!! (Where is the tough in cheek smiley)