Buying a house with solar panels.

Reed_Richards

You could lose the FiT payments if it turns out that your system has been significantly altered since it was installed in 2011.  So you had better hope that your "Smart PV System" did not add extra panels feeding through your old generation meter, which would not be allowed.  Maybe it was just flimflam?  

grumpy_codger

QrizB said:

grumpy_codger said:

Any ideas about this "new Smart PV System"?

Can you share a photo or any details of this gizmo?

Thank you, I probably will if/when buy the house eventually and will be able to see the real things, not photos. ATM, I am just curious and lack of this information is unlikely to affect my decision.

Most likely, it's snake oil sold to the previous owner by some scummy scammer.

Yes, when googling I came across this blog about some "Little Magic Thermodynamic Box"/'Magic Heating Box'.

In my papers it's just "little magic box", not Thermodynamic, but I completely agree with the author that "The implication is that when something is described as magic you aren't supposed to understand it - and there is something important that you aren't being told"

Ectophile

Maybe it's not as bad as I suspected.  When I registered, I needed to give the details of the solar panels specifically.  What gadgets you add aren't really important, unless you're doing something naughty like installing any extra generation that feeds through the generation meter.

grumpy_codger

Reed_Richards said:

You could lose the FiT payments if it turns out that your system has been significantly altered since it was installed in 2011.  So you had better hope that your "Smart PV System" did not add extra panels feeding through your old generation meter, which would not be allowed. ...

No, all the panels are the same and really old (2011 !). Indeed, there is space for 3 extra panels, but I think the original number was determined by ~3.5kW power.

Martyn1981

Reed_Richards said:

You could lose the FiT payments if it turns out that your system has been significantly altered since it was installed in 2011.  So you had better hope that your "Smart PV System" did not add extra panels feeding through your old generation meter, which would not be allowed.  Maybe it was just flimflam?  

No its fine to alter the system, even significantly, you just need to inform the FiT provider. Perfectly allowable to add additional panels running through the old gen meter, the FiT provider will just apportion your payments to the ratio of original system to new total system.

Reed_Richards

Martyn1981 said:

Reed_Richards said:

You could lose the FiT payments if it turns out that your system has been significantly altered since it was installed in 2011.  So you had better hope that your "Smart PV System" did not add extra panels feeding through your old generation meter, which would not be allowed.  Maybe it was just flimflam?  

No its fine to alter the system, even significantly, you just need to inform the FiT provider. Perfectly allowable to add additional panels running through the old gen meter, the FiT provider will just apportion your payments to the ratio of original system to new total system.

That's useful to know.  But are FiT providers obliged to do this or was yours just being nice?

Martyn1981

Reed_Richards said:

Martyn1981 said:

Reed_Richards said:

You could lose the FiT payments if it turns out that your system has been significantly altered since it was installed in 2011.  So you had better hope that your "Smart PV System" did not add extra panels feeding through your old generation meter, which would not be allowed.  Maybe it was just flimflam?  

No its fine to alter the system, even significantly, you just need to inform the FiT provider. Perfectly allowable to add additional panels running through the old gen meter, the FiT provider will just apportion your payments to the ratio of original system to new total system.

That's useful to know.  But are FiT providers obliged to do this or was yours just being nice?

Nope, it's the subsidy rules. I've been pointing this out on here for probably 10yrs, even quoted all the OFGEM guidance on one thread once, when they clarified it to reduce the confusion*, and claims that a system can't be altered or upgraded. But still comes up regularly.



*Edit - For anyone interested, here is the thread, and my post running through the updated OFGEM guidance is towards the end, 4th August 2022.

Expanding Existing Solar System and adding battery and keeping fits payments