Export fee question

GreenBo

I'm presently crunching the numbers on my solar options, but I can't seem to get my head around the Export Tariff. Please help :mad:

So I understand that I would get 4.5p for every kWh I export to the grid. That's the simple bit I understand.

But what confuses me is HOW do they measure this?

From what I can make out there's an assumption made that 50% of the energy my solar panels will produce will be exported. Is that right? is it so simple as making some broad sweeping assumption as this? it seems too Heath Robinson in this day and age to make such as estimation or have I missed something? Do the solar providers not stick in a meter that measures how much kWh's are exported back to the grid?

I'm "Confused.solar.com"

pinnks

It is indeed that simple. There are two elements. You get the current FiT rate for each kWh you generate and 4.5p for 50% of that as you are deemed to export 50% of what you generate. Another way to look at it is to add 50% 0f 4.5p, 2.25p, to whatever your tariff is and the do the maths. The 4.5p is being indexed from April to 4.85p if memory serves.


Whether smart meters may change this is still in the lap of the gods.

GreenBo

Wow! I'm shocked it's that simple. Finally some maths I can work out :-)

Has anyone actually crunched the numbers to see what percentage is REALLY exported? I bet it's no where near 50%.

ed110220

GreenBo wrote: »

Wow! I'm shocked it's that simple. Finally some maths I can work out :-)

Has anyone actually crunched the numbers to see what percentage is REALLY exported? I bet it's no where near 50%.

Without a device to divert Pv generation to an immersion heater or similar, most people would export much more than 50%. Basically because typically most usage is in the evening when the sun has gone down. Hence why electricity savings from the more dubious installers are often over optimistic.

Ed

Martyn1981

GreenBo wrote: »

Wow! I'm shocked it's that simple. Finally some maths I can work out :-)

Has anyone actually crunched the numbers to see what percentage is REALLY exported? I bet it's no where near 50%.

Last year I produced 4,600kWh's so got paid for 2,300. But my import is down about 1,400, so I must have exported 3,200.

It's not so bad as I'm on the older FiT export rate which is about 3.3p (v's the current 4.77p (4.85p next month)), but still, 900*3.3p = £30.

I'll get my own back, hoping to fit some sort of plug n play battery system when costs come down, perhaps early next decade. :cool:

Ed's point is very important, the 50% deemed export makes it "cough, splutter FAIR!!! cough, choke" for the installers to suggest 50% of gen as savings on leccy import. Hence why most installers income quotes are too high, but that's where we come in to restore an element of reality.

Mart.

GreenBo

Thanks for the replies, it's really helpful.

So if I understand this correctly, there's nothing stopping me from using the excess energy from my solar to charge up and electric car AND still claim the 4.77p/kWh export tariff? a double whammy which would improve my payback on the solar even more.

Now where's that calculator, I've got some more number crunching to do.

I'll use Martyn's figure as an example and try to figure out how far 3200 kWh would get me in an plug-in electric car and how much that would then save me in petrol

Every little helps! (as some pirates once said )

GreenBo

So here's my numbers I crunched. Which someone will probably need to check.

Using a Nissan Leaf as the EV and a new Golf Diesel as the benchmark comparison.

Nissan Leaf works out to be an average of 150 Wh/km, which is 0.24 kWh/mile.

Which means that the 3,200 kWh of export kWh from Martyn's house would get me 13,223 miles. FOR FREE !!!

A new Golf Diesel does a realistic 60mpg on average, which at current diesel pricing works out to cost me £1,062 to cover 13,223 miles. Which I would say is about the average amount of miles our present car covers each year.

So if my simple calculations are right having solar, and an EV will effectively allow me to eliminate my car's fuel bill (assuming I have the kWh storage device to switch the export to charge it up accordingly, and that I always charge it up at home).

Do I have this right? seems too good to be true. What obvious things am I missing here apart from the extra expense of the EV in the first place and the system to avert the export kWh to charge the car.

Minrich

Martyn1981 wrote: »

I'll get my own back, hoping to fit some sort of plug n play battery system when costs come down, perhaps early next decade. :cool:

Mart.

Would be very interested in that too

tunnel

GreenBo wrote: »

What obvious things am I missing here apart from the extra expense of the EV in the first place and the system to avert the export kWh to charge the car.

Will you be able to keep the car parked at home during the day while you're exporting the most? No good having an electric car if you can't charge it in the day while you're generating the most!!

Martyn1981

Minrich wrote: »

Would be very interested in that too

And, as if by magic, we get a news article today. Don't worry too much about the prices now, or in 3 years time, it's just about reaching a point where the technology takes off (like first computers, mobile phones ..... PV systems) then waiting another 2 to 5 years for costs to fall. Hopefully!

Upcoming storage boom could ‘revolutionise’ the UK market

Maturing and more affordable storage technology promises to “revolutionise” the UK solar PV market, according to a panel at today’s Solar Finance and Investment Conference.

Ray Noble, consultant to the Renewable Energy Association, said that while some storage technologies were 10 to 20 years away from being realised, technological advancements in lithium ion batteries – driven largely by the automobile sector – had meant that storage batteries for residential installations could be affordable within two or three years.

Mart.

kevin6666

The information I've seen suggests the deemed 50% export on <=4kW PV systems is too high. Obviously most people aren't in all day but when they do meter their export for whatever reason it's not good.