Solar Inverter Query

Reed_Richards

And the spreadsheet implies that @jennifernil registered their system just before @Telegraph_Sam and so achieved a much higher FIT rate.

Qyburn

Telegraph_Sam said:

I can only repeat the £0.237 as shown on my FIT statements and the £0.7185 quoted by jennifernil above.  You are saying that everyone gets one or other of these national rates?

No. Everyone gets the rate that applied to their class of installation, at the date it was registered. 

She says hers were installed in 2011, if that was their eligibility date they would have started off on the 2011 figure which looks like it might have been 43.3p , index linked ever since ..

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/docs/2011/10/feed-in-tariff-table-1-august-2011.pdf

Yours was installed two years later so would have started off on the April or July 2013 rate, depending on when the paper work was completed .. 

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/docs/2013/04/fit-tariff-table-1-july-2013-pv-only.pdf

I've referred before to the major change that came into effect in April 2012. So it's not surprising that a 2011 installation, predating that change, gets a very different rate than a 2013 installation.

But aside from that each year will be different again. Your rate won't be the same as a 2012 installation or a 2014.

jennifernil

Telegraph_Sam said:

Date was 16 June 2013.  What you get paid depends on both the date and the provider, in my case Scottish Power, that you get signed up with. By the looks of it you got a significantly better deal than I did and/or know a few more tricks than I do - like getting the red light to flash more frequently (!) Who is your FIT company?

So your panels are just over 11 years old.   You are therefore on a lower FIT than we are, we were fortunate to happen to have our panels fitted at the point at which the FIT was at its maximum.  However we probably paid a lot more for the panels back then……swings and roundabouts it seems.  Our contract runs for a total of 25 years.

As stated already, the provider  makes no difference to the generation payment, but export payments vary,

We were with EDF for our payments, but moved everything to Octopus back in April to take advantage of their higher export rate, having had smart meters fitted back in November 2022.

Telegraph_Sam

I need to correct my previous post on 26 Sept about indicator lights: The green light from my inverter is usually on continuously whennever there is daylight, and goes dark when there. is none. There is a red. light, non-flashing, mounted on the generation meter, that does  precisely the opposite. What these are meant to convey ,  that I don't already know, escapes me.

Telegraph_Sam

To clarify, there is a short period of no light in the evenings between when the inverter light goes off and the generation meter red light comes on. Is there some logic behind this?

Ectophile

Telegraph_Sam said:

To clarify, there is a short period of no light in the evenings between when the inverter light goes off and the generation meter red light comes on. Is there some logic behind this?

Meters do vary, but some will show a solid red light if ther don't detect any electricity flow at all for several minutes.  Others will go red if they detect a reverse electricity flow, even a small one.

Petriix

Telegraph_Sam said:

Sorry to disappoint you but no ! There is just the continuous light from the inverter when it is charging.

Petriix is obviously very well equipped. Would this arsenal tell me when to mow the lawn and when to leave the mower in the garage?

The trick is to mow the lawn (and do everything else) while the EV is smart charging so imports cost 7p per kWh. I can reliably get some cheap slots from 9-11am by plugging the car in in the morning. 

Telegraph_Sam

I am not sure if that applies to Tracker-s like me.  One fixed rate per day, currently less than 20 p on average.
Without battery storage (and no EV) it is a bit of a mind twister whether to do the heavy lifting over the mid day early afternoon slot when the contribution from solar generation should be at its maximum, OR to avoid the midday / early afternoons in order to get max benefit from FIT and solar generation without any of this being "stolen" by my consumption. >> Headache.

"Meters do vary, but some will show a solid red light if they don't detect any electricity flow at all for several minutes.  Others will go red if they detect a reverse electricity flow, even a small one" - any way of telling which is which?

Qyburn

Telegraph_Sam said:

Without battery storage (and no EV) it is a bit of a mind twister whether to do the heavy lifting over the mid day early afternoon slot when the contribution from solar generation should be at its maximum, OR to avoid the midday / early afternoons in order to get max benefit from FIT and solar generation without any of this being "stolen" by my consumption. >> Headache.

Using the electricity won't impact your FIT Generation payments. They're paid for what you generate whether you use it yourself or export it. 

So for you it's a really easy decisions, run your heavy loads when it's sunny or when you think itmight be sunny. If you guess wrong you lose nothing, if you guess right you save. 

Qyburn

Telegraph_Sam said:

"Meters do vary, but some will show a solid red light if they don't detect any electricity flow at all for several minutes.  Others will go red if they detect a reverse electricity flow, even a small one" - any way of telling which is which?

Does it matter? When not generating your inverter will draw a small amount of power, so it could be either. If you can isolate the inverter on the inverter side of the meter, you could try doing so and see whether the red light goes off.