Solar Panel system advice really appreciated please

joephish

My electrician is suggesting installing and registering the meter in time for 12 Dec. Can we install and register for the higher rate - as generation rates are small at this time of year, provided we complete installation before the 90 day first meter reading? thanks

zeupater

joephish wrote: »

My electrician is suggesting installing and registering the meter in time for 12 Dec. Can we install and register for the higher rate - as generation rates are small at this time of year, provided we complete installation before the 90 day first meter reading? thanks

Hi

The installation must be done by an MCS accredited installer and registered with a FiT partner before the cutoff date or you will only be eligible for the new reduced tariff for FiT.

If you wait 90 days you will get the lower rate ... it's probably touch-and-go whether anyone would be able to ensure that everything will be in place by the cutoff date, so make sure that you get some kind of guarantee to achieve this from your installer ....

HTH
Z

joephish

Thanks zeupater. I probably didn't word my question well. He is an MCS accredited installer, so no problem with that bit but he knows he won't complete the job before 12 Dec (because he cannot get panels) but he has got a meter. He is suggesting installing the meter only in the next week or so, and therefore registering the meter number before 12 Dec for the higher FiT rate. Is this a way round the cut-off date?

KevinG

joephish wrote: »

Thanks zeupater. I probably didn't word my question well. He is an MCS accredited installer, so no problem with that bit but he knows he won't complete the job before 12 Dec (because he cannot get panels) but he has got a meter. He is suggesting installing the meter only in the next week or so, and therefore registering the meter number before 12 Dec for the higher FiT rate. Is this a way round the cut-off date?

How would he get the MCS certificate for the system by just installing a meter?

joephish

Doesn't he just register the installation with MCS database and issue a certificate? The fact that I don't receive anything for generating until the panels are fitted is irrelevant as long as it is within the 90 days that my FiT supplier will need a reading?

Mamzie

thenudeone wrote: »

Good Energy will accept a scanned copy of the MCS certificate by email and were pretty quick at confirming that the installation was properly registered.

Unless you have a cast iron guarantee of receipt of the certificate with several days to spare, I'd be tempted to wait. The price of 4kw systems has already plummeted (tesco is offering them at £8.5k for new-FIT rate installations) and may fall further.

whew, thats really good to know, as they were who we were thinking of going with

zeupater

joephish wrote: »

Doesn't he just register the installation with MCS database and issue a certificate? The fact that I don't receive anything for generating until the panels are fitted is irrelevant as long as it is within the 90 days that my FiT supplier will need a reading?

HI

Perhaps it would make a difference if the question was to be rephrased to ...... 'Doesn't he just register the installation', including serial numbers of panels & inverters, 'with MCS database and issue a certificate?' ..... ..... will the installer have the serial numbers if there are no panels or inverter ? ...

HTH
Z

bris

He doesn't need the serial numbers, just the make and MCS registration number of the panels, he would also need a reading for whats been generated. He would be falsifying the MCS cert, you can't issue a cert without doing the instal, if he get's caught it may be fraud, they do spot checks on instals, is it worth a criminal record.

zeupater

bris wrote: »

He doesn't need the serial numbers, just the make and MCS registration number of the panels, he would also need a reading for whats been generated. He would be falsifying the MCS cert, you can't issue a cert without doing the instal, if he get's caught it may be fraud, they do spot checks on instals, is it worth a criminal record.

Hi

You're correct .... that doesn't stack up with what had been published by the industry when first launched .... the MCS central register was supposed to help prevent theft/fraud etc as part of it's design through logging serial numbers ..... has it been dumbed down because of ease of use or something ? .....

Looking at the user manual ... (https://certificate.microgenerationcertification.org/public/Documents/Help.pdf) ... it seems that the section regarding payment is as large as the technical use description, so that really tells a tale .....

Looks like multiple generation meters etc was also an afterthought .... was the system not specified properly upfront, or do the software developers not understand header & detail files ? .... looks pretty basic to me, the kind of system which you'd knock together over a weekend and slot in on a Monday morning to try out & demonstrate the theory before spending a week or two creating a finished product ....

Ah well, so much for my faith in the professionalism of another government scheme .....

HTH
Z

joephish

thanks for the advice. Seems pretty clear what I won't be doing...