Solar install without MCS registered installer 16 November 2022 at 3:57PM in LPG, heating oil, solid & other fuels 3 replies 316 views

Davb84

I've recently had solar panels installed with a battery for storage.  However, there are times when the solar panels are generating more than the battery can store, so some power is going back to the grid.

I'd like to sign up for a feed in tariff to get paid for the excess power I'm generating, but it seems that an MCS certificate is required, and the installer is not MCS registered.

Is there any solution to this?  Are there any feed in tariffs that don't require an MCS certified installer?

Or is there any way to get the solar panel installation MCS certified retrospectively?

I'm thinking this is rather foolish oversight on my part to be so trusting of the solar company's salesman!

Dolor

Feed in tariffs disappeared some years ago. You can sign up for SEG export payments but you need a smart meter. Not all SEG payers require MCS (Octopus will only accept MCS). All the details are here:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/docs/2019/12/guidance_for_seg_licensees_final.pdf

Read paragraph 4.6

I don’t believe that retrospective MCS certification is possible. 

When you apply for SEG, the payer will also want to see that you have DNO sign off for your completed installation.

QrizB

Davb84 said:

I'm thinking this is rather foolish oversight on my part to be so trusting of the solar company's salesman!

MCS certification also ensures you get a Building Regs-compliant installation and an insurance-backed warranty.

Did you get both of these from your installer too?

Who was your installer, if you don't mind naming names?

Bendy_House

I presume you are doing everything else you can to use as much PV leccy as possible? Eg heating stored hot water? Slow-cooking during the day? Even diverting to a storage heater.

I've had a 2.4kW storage heater being charged with any excess power using an iBoost+ for a week now. One sunny day had it actually quite hot - almost too much to keep your hand on - so I opened the 'boost' (to properly release the trapped heat) in the early eve, and it lasted a good few hours. Genuinely helped to delay when the gas CH came on, and even then it was only for brief periods to 'top up' the room. Since then there's been a couple of days when the heater was just 'warm', but most days (esp the dreicht day we've had today) there was now't.