Microgeneration

cubatahavana

I received this email:

To whom it may concern,

 

The Government recently announced the launch of the Micro-Generation Support Scheme (MSS) which will enable households to install renewable generation for their own consumption and receive a payment for any residual electricity they export to the grid (Clean Energy Guarantee). SEAI are delighted to announce that from the 16th February 2022 homeowners will be able to make applications under the new criteria included in the MSS. This new criteria includes changes to the following:

Pre 2021 homes:

The pre 2011 requirement has changed to pre 2021. This includes all homes built and occupied up to 31st Dec 2020.

Minimum C BER requirement:

There is no longer a requirement for a minimum C3 BER. The requirement for a post works BER remains.

Battery grant:

Support for battery installations will be removed as in future homeowners will be able to avail of the Clean Energy Guarantee offered by Energy Suppliers. Existing battery applications will be processed as normal. Please submit any applications for batteries by CoB on Tuesday 15th February. We will not accept new battery grant applications after this date.

The above will come into effect from the 16th February 2022. Note the portal will be down for a few hours on the 16th to make the system updates.

 

Solar PV documentation (Code of Practice etc) will be updated to reflect he above changes and will be available on the website from Wednesday 16th February 2022. Please ensure that you are using the latest versions of these documents going forward.

There are also some exciting updates to the portal that will go live on the same date. A separate briefing will be issued on this.

Yours Sincerely,

Home Energy Grants Team

I bought an A3 house in 2020. What does this mean to me? Can I avail of a grant?

Bobeagleburger

You are pre 2021,so yes.

The BER rating doesn't matter anymore.

cubatahavana

This is brilliant

slave1

I kinda agreed with the BER piece, looked to force homeowners to insulate as a priority over PV, makes sense to me

rathbaner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118606701#Comment_118606701

I think they're focus now is to build a distributed power plant. I see they're abolishing the home storage battery grant too. It's hard to make sense of it right now. They want to encourage power generation but not storage deferred home use!

KCross

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118606701#Comment_118606701

I understood their reasoning for having the BER but in reality it was holding back alot of people.

If you have a poorly rated house it costs 000s to get it insulated, windows replaced, heat pumps etc etc. If you didnt have the money to do that (even with a grant) it meant you were blocked from putting up Solar PV. Alot more people can afford Solar as it can be done for ~€5k.

It makes sense to remove the BER requirement. Any electricity that is generated is less for the grid to generate regardless of what other works you get done.

[Deleted User]

Ok if they want us to generate power for the grid how much are they going to pay us ?

slave1

SFA

Beach.

Can I ask for a recommendation for a pv installer company that'll give a fair price and works in the Cork area. Just got back a quote for a 3.7kw system with 5kw battery, including all installation costs but not BER for 11050 net of the grant of 2700. After reading posts here that's way over a reasonable price. I'm under time pressure to submit my application for my battery grant before Feb 15th and would appreciate any advice. Please message me directly. Many thanks.

Ubbquittious

Will the re-seller you get your bill from be able to decide teh feed in tarriff?

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118610541#Comment_118610541

Yes, they decide. CRU minimum is 0c.

[Deleted User]

Did someone say that exporting is capped at so many kw per day ?

paulbok

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118607589#Comment_118607589

"And ya better be bl00dy grateful for it too"

paulbok

I would have though encouraging the use of domestic batteries, even a small capacity one, would be preferred by the network for load balancing (probably the wrong term) especially as we move to depend on renewables?

I don't know that much about how the grid works and may be off the wall here, but I would have though that having thousands of homes with solar that are one minute self sufficient, and then like for me at lunchtime yesterday, the weather gets rotten, that they all start to suddenly draw 80-100% of needed power from the grid would cause unnecessary spikes, that could be eased by each home drawing some or all of the power from the battery (depending on capacity, charge level, actual usage levels etc). - just to note, my 4.8kw battery had enough charge to mostly tide me over for the 1.5 hrs my production was brutal at lunch.

Same with encouraging charging batteries on night rate during the winter months to use during the day, which would help flatten peak demand on the grid.

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118614668#Comment_118614668

Is there already enough solar power installed in Ireland to make noticeable spikes when the clouds roll in?

the_amazing_raisin

Bit off topic but spotted this video earlier. One of the best demos about why you'll never make money off of a FIT. And that's using the UK which has a way better FIT than here

https://youtu.be/4BUUQLsFSmY

DrPhilG

Some lad on Facebook keeps telling me that a FiT tariff has been announced by one supplier at 13.5c.

Edit...

https://pinergy.ie/news/pinergy-announces-new-micro-generation-offering/

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118764775#Comment_118764775

I thought that was the rate for 6kW to 50kW systems. That's set by the CRU, not Pinergy, despite their upbeat press Maybe they're giving the same rate for smaller systems, that'd be fairly decent

the_amazing_raisin

Took a look at Pinergy's plans, EV rate, 3 hours at 5c/kWh, rest of the day at 33.7c/kWh, Vat excluded 😲

No wonder they can afford to give 13.5c/kWh for FIT

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118764938#Comment_118764938

Are they the first ones to announce what they are paying for the CEG

Bobeagleburger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118764938#Comment_118764938

38c after VAT.

Lol 😂

You'll pay an extra 500 a year in day units, but they'll pay you 100 quid in FIT 😁

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118764999#Comment_118764999

Was poking about their website,, couldn't even find that lol

Bobeagleburger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118765033#Comment_118765033

Always a red flag for me when I can't find prices on a website.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118765033#Comment_118765033

It's under customer information, was a bit of a struggle to find it

All the energy companies hide their rates, they don't want you to know there's a better deal available

I still haven't found Bord Gais's rates after 3 attempts

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118764999#Comment_118764999

Sure I've know people to spend thousands more on a car to save less than a hundred in road tax

Or spend thousands on petrol a year because they wouldn't pay a grand extra for an EV 😜

I've heard it said the Irish can never resist a good deal, I think it'd be more correct to say most Irish people couldn't spot a good deal from a bad one

silver_sky

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118765255#Comment_118765255

Theirs says its coming soon. They're still working on it. If it was a price rise it'd be here months ago!

https://www.bordgaisenergy.ie/home/help/how-much-can-i-earn

the_amazing_raisin

You can bet they'll drag that out until the last possible moment

Any word on whether the energy providers can put in BS requirements like Energia only allowing a particular type of battery?

Ubbquittious

At 4c/kw you will have to donate a whopping 9,000 KWh to the grid to get your standing charges back out of it.

If your array is big enough and you're not depending on EVs for commuting it is nearly worth going off the grid.

paulbok

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118778940#Comment_118778940

No way will they bring it in as the summer excess production ramps up. They will wait until autumn before giving anything back

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118778940#Comment_118778940

that is/was? their own "private" feed in tariff not the CEG.

But No they cant impose anything like that, they are "sent" a figure from ESBN, twice a year. and as always they set the rate, with the minimum of zero.

Pinenergy have been the only ones to announce so far,

Bobeagleburger

Exporting 2000 kWh at 10c FIT would only yield €200. Plus I guarantee a FIT of 10c would mean a unit rate of 30c. The providers will take it off you on the other side. Check out Pinergy's laughable rates for example. 38c unit rate!

FIT is airy fairy stuff. A lot of people were sold a pup when installing by certain installers. Some people even installed smart meters for it.

Forget FIT imo, it's a joke. Get a day/night meter instead (if possible), get the best rate possible, and use as much solar generated as possible.