Solar Panel Guide Discussion

Cardew

slammeddeluxe wrote: »

Hi Cardew - here is my earlier quote....below...so I should be able to work this out ? ....

22909 minus 22793 = 116 KWH used
351KWH generated
351 minus 116 = 235KWH exported ?

So 43.3p x 351 = £151.98 plus 235x3.1p for exported £7.28 = £159.26 ? For exported plus generated ? Is this correct ?


thanks

Paul

As explained above, you can conclude nothing from the above information.

You have correctly stated you have used 116kWh from the mains. However how much have you consumed in the house?

For illustration, take two extremes:

From the 351kWh you generated you could have used just 1kWh making a total 117kWh(116 +1); thus exporting 350kWh

OR

You could have used 350kWh making a total of 466kWh(116 +350) thus exporting 1kWh.

mpn226

Doc_N wrote: »

That's very interesting.

So if I were to add another system to my roof (the first one's nearly a year old) before April 2012 I could potentially get another 43.3p per kWh produced?

Must look into that - there's still a fair amount of free roof space.

Hi have checked with my FiT provider and yes if you add another system to your roof before april 2012 you will get 43.3p they treat it a new application, hope this helps.:D:D

Cardew

mpn226 wrote: »

Hi have checked with my FiT provider and yes if you add another system to your roof before april 2012 you will get 43.3p they treat it a new application, hope this helps.:D:D

I really cannot see that being the case!

If I was a farmer with loads of farm buildings, that ruling would mean that I could install twenty 4kWp systems and claim for each system @ the 4kWp rate of 43.3p/kWh - instead of the rate for an 80kWp system.

In fact you don't need a roof as you can mount panels on the ground on racks. So as I have a lot of land I will install three hundred 4kWp systems and get 43.3/kWh for a 1,200kWp system.

A Shade Greener have been wasting their time - they could stick all their systems in one location!

I would get confirmation in writing from your FIT provider!!

Dave_Fowler

slammeddeluxe wrote: »

Hi Cardew - here is my earlier quote....below...so I should be able to work this out ? ....

22909 minus 22793 = 116 KWH used
351KWH generated
351 minus 116 = 235KWH exported ?

So 43.3p x 351 = £151.98 plus 235x3.1p for exported £7.28 = £159.26 ? For exported plus generated ? Is this correct ?


thanks

Paul

Hi Paul,

As already stated, the FIT provider will assume 50% exported. Whilst it will not influence what your FIT provider gives you, you can get an idea of what you are exporting / saving by using one of the £20 energy monitors.

By clipping the monitor to a cable to your import meter, it will indicate how much energy is passing through the cable. The energy monitor does not know if you are importing or exporting so just adds together all the energy passing through the cable. Your house (import) meter however differentiates between import and export and only adds up the imported energy.

The difference between the readings on the energy monitor and the import meter is therefore the amount exported*. (And the difference between the generation meter and the amount exported will be the amount of PV energy used.

*This is not an exact figure as the import meter reads Watts and the energy monitor reads Volt-Amps (which is nearly always higher). For my house, I have to multiply the energy monitor reading by 0.93 to get a reasonably accurate figure.

Dave F

zeupater

mpn226 wrote: »

Hi have checked with my FiT provider and yes if you add another system to your roof before april 2012 you will get 43.3p they treat it a new application, hope this helps.:D:D

Hi

This is correct in your particular case due to having had a system for over 12 months before April 2012, relevant info .....

"any expansion of an installation within 12 months (of the same technology) will be treated as an increase in the capacity of the installation; if an expansion takes place more than one year after confirmation in the Central FITs Register, the expansion will be treated as a separate station - the original installation will be treated as having continued in the same class, while the new installation will be rated at the capacity of the aggregate of the two stations."

http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/Consultations/Renewable%20Electricity%20Financial%20Incentives/1_20100204120204_e_@@_FITsconsultationresponseandGovdecisions.pdf

HTH
Z

zeupater

Cardew wrote: »

I really cannot see that being the case!

If I was a farmer with loads of farm buildings, that ruling would mean that I could install twenty 4kWp systems and claim for each system @ the 4kWp rate of 43.3p/kWh - instead of the rate for an 80kWp system.

In fact you don't need a roof as you can mount panels on the ground on racks. So as I have a lot of land I will install three hundred 4kWp systems and get 43.3/kWh for a 1,200kWp system.

A Shade Greener have been wasting their time - they could stick all their systems in one location!

I would get confirmation in writing from your FIT provider!!

Hi

You need to consider that, for this to be the case, the twenty installations would need to be over twenty years and the 4kWp tariff for each system would be at whatever was current at the time of installation ..... two, or more, 4kWp installations within any one year would result in the capacity being aggregated and the tariff corrected to the appropriate band.

HTH
Z

Doc_N

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

This is correct in your particular case due to having had a system for over 12 months before April 2012, relevant info .....

"any expansion of an installation within 12 months (of the same technology) will be treated as an increase in the capacity of the installation; if an expansion takes place more than one year after confirmation in the Central FITs Register, the expansion will be treated as a separate station - the original installation will be treated as having continued in the same class, while the new installation will be rated at the capacity of the aggregate of the two stations."

http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/Consultations/Renewable%20Electricity%20Financial%20Incentives/1_20100204120204_e_@@_FITsconsultationresponseandGovdecisions.pdf

HTH
Z

That would mean, then, that the subsequent installation would get the 37.8p rate, rather than the 43.3p.

KevinG

Dave_Fowler wrote: »

The energy monitor does not know if you are importing or exporting so just adds together all the energy passing through the cable.

IME an energy monitor used like this will net off the imported and exported energy with no indication of whether the figure is positive or negative, but different monitors and installations may give a different result.

KevinG

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

This is correct in your particular case due to having had a system for over 12 months before April 2012, relevant info .....

"any expansion of an installation within 12 months (of the same technology) will be treated as an increase in the capacity of the installation; if an expansion takes place more than one year after confirmation in the Central FITs Register, the expansion will be treated as a separate station - the original installation will be treated as having continued in the same class, while the new installation will be rated at the capacity of the aggregate of the two stations."

http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/Consultations/Renewable%20Electricity%20Financial%20Incentives/1_20100204120204_e_@@_FITsconsultationresponseandGovdecisions.pdf

HTH
Z

That seems like a reasonably fair way of doing it. It also means you couldn't run the two installations through the same export meter, which could slightly increase the cost of an expansion. I would consider expanding mine when the inverter packs in, as I am told they tend to after 10 years, but if I'd have to run the additional panels through a separate export meter, I would presumably need two inverters as well, which would bump up the cost even more.

zeupater

KevinG wrote: »

That seems like a reasonably fair way of doing it. It also means you couldn't run the two installations through the same export meter, which could slightly increase the cost of an expansion. I would consider expanding mine when the inverter packs in, as I am told they tend to after 10 years, but if I'd have to run the additional panels through a separate export meter, I would presumably need two inverters as well, which would bump up the cost even more.

Hi

I'm pretty sure that you should be able to run multiple installations through one total generation meter and the contribution by each system will be apportioned according to the relative installed capacities, however, relative to system cost, total generation meters are quite cheap, so it makes little overall difference. Unless you have multiple metered supplies you will have one MPAN to link the systems to anyway, so I'd guess that you'd have to register all installations with one FiT partner.

This would need to be fully checked with your FiT partner/installer prior to system expansion ....

HTH
Z