Solar Panels - should we connect to grid?

Laura2510

We recently bought a home that has solar panels. I know very little about solar panels and how they work however in the buying process we were informed that the solar panels are owned outright and are just connected to a personal battery store for the house - they aren't connected to the grid to "sell back" energy. 

Should we look into doing this? At the moment it's just me and my husband here and we generally WFH so energy consumption is probably above average from the WFH but otherwise low. 

Keen to understand the pros and cons and any insights! 

doodling

Hi,

Assuming the house has mains electrcity (does it?) then what you describe is unusual and would have taken special care to design.

It could be that no provision is currently in place to sell electricity to the grid and/or the system has been designed/configured to avoid (but not prevent, as that would be difficult for any reasonable design) returning energy to the grid.

There should be a diagram near the fuse box showing how the system is connected up.  A picture of that and of the main electrical bits of the system (batteries/electronics, pictures of the panels are not necessary) would help people comment further.

Whether it is a good idea to do this depends on what tariffs you are on for buying and selling electricity, the capacity of the battery vs. the amount of energy the panels collect, your usage patterns and exactly what you currently have installed.

lolaparker

We have had solar panals , with a battery, for 4 years now and it has made a huge difference to our energy costs.

during the summer months you will generate far more electricity than you will use - even though you work from home . So make sure you do washing machine/ dishwasher loads during the day and even with a battery, you will probably still generate more than you use.

you will be able to download an app for your system which will tell you , in real time , exactly how much electricity you are generating, how much you are currently using ,how much is being sent to the battery and how much is “ wasted” I.e. going back to grid…system will ONLY send electricity back to the grid when it is NOT being used directly by you at the time, or the battery has reached maximum storage capacity…

yes , it is worth selling surplus energy back to the grid but depending who you choose, it can be a bit of a hassle to set up and you won’t make a lot of money from it …. ( we averaged about £300 a year..) but something is better than nothing!

Hope this helps! 

mmmmikey

Hi - in order to connect a solar system to the grid it needs to comply with the appropriate regulations and standards, so you may find this is not a practical option depending and what exactly was installed, how it was installed and by who. It's also possible that the system is fully compliant and already "grid tied" (to use the jargon) but there's just no provision for metering the export. If you're of a reasonably technical bent and sketch out what you have and how it's all connected, folks here can probably help you work through the costs and options. If not, it might be worth getting a local electrician with experience of solar installations to check the system out for you and explain your options.

DougMLancs

It is possible that the installer wasn’t MCS certified (often required to get paid for grid export) and so they just told the customer selling back to the grid isn’t worthwhile and gave them the impression it’s an islanded system whereas in reality it could be configured normally and is exporting just without anyone paying you for it. Have you got any paperwork for the installation? 

Sailbad

If the solar panels and battery are not connected to the grid then how do use the energy they generate? Do you have a changeover switch to select grid energy or solar energy? 

Reed_Richards

Do you plug appliances into a socket connected to the battery?  This type of system, sometimes called a "Power Station", is mostly marketed as portable and for camping use but there was one poster on the Green and Ethical board who had several of these for use in her home https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/green-ethical-moneysaving .  IIRC she posted about these around a year ago.

Robin9

Your meter must be Smart to export.   press the display buttons until you get a screen "EXP"  and a reading in kWh.  What is that reading ?


A question for others how do find out who Laura2510 is  exporting to ?

pete-20-11

Robin9 said:

Your meter must be Smart to export.   press the display buttons until you get a screen "EXP"  and a reading in kWh.  What is that reading ?


A question for others how do find out who Laura2510 is  exporting to ?

If there is a "contract" in place, maybe start with ofgem.

There is a central FIT register for the older scheme and I assume a SEG register too. 

If there was something in place it is something the solicitor should have picked up on. So maybe there isn't, or maybe they made a mistake and didn't ask for the right documents/information/questions. 

mmmmikey

Robin9 said:

Your meter must be Smart to export.   press the display buttons until you get a screen "EXP"  and a reading in kWh.  What is that reading ?


A question for others how do find out who Laura2510 is  exporting to ?

Hi - I don't think we know for certain whether the panels are connected to the grid and just not registered for export, or set up in an off-grid configuration. Also, I don't think smart meters are set up to record export usage by default. I know you need to apply to the DNO for an export MPAN, and I believe that when you have this your supplier then configures the meter to record export.

Qyburn

mmmmikey said:

Also, I don't think smart meters are set up to record export usage by default. I know you need to apply to the DNO for an export MPAN, and I believe that when you have this your supplier then configures the meter to record export.

Ours recorded export from the very moment our solar went live, even though it was over a week before the export MPAN was issued.