Question on Feed In Tariffs for slightly larger than your standard domestic array. Apologies if it has been covered, I looked and could not find it.
I am going to submit an NC7 form to the ESB to get permission to install 30KVA. (I have 3 phase power).
I have read and heard mixed messages on how the feed in tariff for this will work. For 3 phase Micro Generation is under 11KVA, I will be above this so it will be called Mini Generation. I rang ESB, they said nothing to do with them, talk to your provider, I rang Electric Ireland, they say they are paying the same rate to both at 21cent but he did not seem 100% sure so I emailed asking the same question and they have not replied almost two weeks on.
I read online about the Clean Export Premium Tariff which is 13.5cent per KWh. I am confused about where I will stand, I am a high user which some machinery working but getting a price for export will be important to make the economics add up. If they are going to pay 21cent, what is the 13.5cent about?
I also saw on PV installer website that the 13.5cent was fixed for 15 years, another website said that it will drop by a cent a year. What do the knowledge community of Boards.ie understand to be the situation?
I don't know this for sure, but my understanding when I read that (when released.....what 12 months ago now?) was that the 13.5c was a garuntee low rate. As in you might be paid higher, but this was the minimum that you could be paid.
My understanding is that you'll be payed a guaranteed rate of 13.5c/kWh which is guaranteed for 15 years
However, it may be worth considering your options and whether it's worthwhile. I understand the fees for the NC7 aren't cheap (~€1100?) so you'd need to factor that into payback period
Since you're on 3 phase you can go up to 11kVA of export power on an NC6 form, assuming that you limit the export of your system. This is free of charge to register
It might be worth looking at the generally higher export rates for system on the CEG, Flogas for example are offering 24c/kWh
Those rates can change at any time however
It's also important to understand what kind of meter/tariffs you have and whether your export will be metered, or you'll receive an estimated amount called deemed export
Since you've a lot of machinery, I'm guessing you'll be aiming for a high rate of self consumption. Is there any possibility to automate some of your machinery to run when you have a lot of excess solar power?
So in that case you can prevent electricity being exported to the grid (and probably imported another time at higher cost)
You may also want to invest in some batteries to enable you to store energy instead of sending it to the grid
It will probably depend on your provider but the original wording from the govt was...
All that was said before electricity prices went through the roof so what was actually implemented in law may have changed or still being worked out but the CEP tariff was expected to be fixed for 15yrs and the grant support was to be tapered over time but who knows where it stands now.
The SEAI should be your first port of call as its all administered through them, so they will give you a definitive answer.
Strictly speaking on NC6 limiting your export is not allowed. With micro generation the total capacity of all inverters is all that ESBN consider. There is no max export limit. so if he has 2 inverters capable of 20kVA in total that is not allowed as about the 11kVA limit. With NC7 you are allowed employ export limitation devices. But as someone commented in another thread plenty of us are employing export limitation and have 1 or more Inverters larger than 6kVA (single phase)
NB The NC7 fee of ~€1k is not automatic granting, if esbnetworks deem capital spend required then you foot the bill, if you don't want to foot the bill then your €1k fee is gone
This is my main problem with the NC7. It's a 1k bet on your local substation having capacity!
Agreed, I simply do not trust esbnetworks, it is in their interest in limiting our ability to PV, if it was a simple case of completing the form then I would do it but why a grand to fill out the form when the NC6 is free? and if they come to a house and works required you can bet your ass their pricing will be through the roof.
They are effectively monopolising and abusing the supply chain
Just off the phone to electric ireland who owe me about €300 for FIT last year.
They told me you have to ring them to let them know where to pay the money. As if they didnt know already.
I asked would i have been paid if i didnt ring. No was the answer. So ring them.
Chatting to a mate of mine yesterday and he has PV, he's with Airtricity and they told him he is not entitled to any FIT until he gets a SMART meter and only from when it's fitted will they pay.....the BS being thrown around is unreal
And its their work that needs to be done, so no one else can do it too. So it's before the meter.
I thought EI were paying out each billing cycle like Energia have been.
Will probably have to change from Energia next month, trying to avoid any suppliers taking the piss with FiT/deemed export.
Yup - I mentioned it previously in the thread slave, but got that same sentence pretty much word for word from them when I left. In my case they were refusing to pay for FIT while I was with them, unless I got a smart meter with my NEW supplier. As for what my current smart meter status with my new supplier has to do with them was beyond me.
Got a cheque in the door a few months back with the money they were legally obliged to give to me.
Your right the level of horse$hit going around on this is criminal.
To be fair on that one, I do think there should be "some" charge for the customer to get the analysis done on NC7. €900 (or whatever it is) seems a bit excessive to me. More like €250 would be appropriate, as you want to discourage people banging them in willy-nilly for residential. That said there should be some kind of "better guarantee" that they will be able to facilitate you. It would seem only fair that if their were technical reasons that you couldn't get the NC7 approved that they would refund you the money.
I wouldnt mind a 900 quid refundable deposit or as you say a 250 site visit charge. It's excessive as it is though and it's discouraging me from doing it!
It is 100% set at a high unrefundable level to discourage
Hi - just curious if EI issued your bill yet? Still waiting here.. not mad to give them money but wondering whats up
Im getting paid fit every bill 60 days from EI as expected.
Hardly a conspiracy to rob you of €1,000. They publish a network capacity map.
Yes but how do you know if any line works are required? It's not just a case of your local sub having space.
This is what it says for mine...
MV/LV Substation XXXXX
Secondary Voltage(s):
400V(3ph) & 230V(single ph)
Installed Capacity:
200 kVA :Pole Substation
Demand Capacity Available:
70 kVA
I thought the position from ESBN was that your MEC cannot exceed your MIC, and has to be up to the level the local transformer can handle
So if your MIC is 16kVA then your MEC won't be higher than 16kVA, even if you put 30kWp of panels on your roof
And if for example the local substation had a MIC of 50kVA, then you could have up to 3 houses exporting 16kVA without issues. But the 4th house who wants to export will require the transformer to be upgraded to do so, and they foot the bill if that upgrade
I agree in general that €900 non refundable deposit just to apply is a bit silly. As others said it's fine to have to pay a bit up front for the assessment, and then if works are required then go ahead and decide whether it's worth it or not
Well for starters they aren't going to give you a MEC larger than your MIC. Assuming capacity at the substation and all your neighbours aren't also NC7 generators you'd probably get a MEC equal to your MIC.
If you're exporting you're a generator, so look at the other tab. Demand and generation capacity are usually inverses each other.
I agree though that the €1,000 is steep.
Yes, MEC can't exceed MIC. I cant get the other tab to load unfortunately. I think ultimately when I get my smart meter that is capable of doing MCC02 (ie the smart meters configured as RM107 being rolled out from q3 this year) I will apply for NC7.
Generation tab doesn't seem to work for me, I guess it's not optimised for mobile devices
Nor me (on a pc)
It just doesn't work for anyone 😂
Are you using Firefox by any chance?
Nahh - Edge . Perhaps you have to login for that to work. Dunno and not sure I have the patience to create an account :-)
This one seems to work. Same info on a different link.
That works for me 👍
So my local substation is a 400kVA kiosk substation, and it says it has 200kVA of generation capacity available
This seems familiar, was there something in the microgeneration scheme about total generation for an area being set at 50% of demand capacity?
Interesting how it's showing 200kVA when I know there's a good few houses in the area with solar panels installed. Do they not count the installations under 6kVA into the generation capacity, or does it not update as new generators are added 🤔
So in theory, I should be able to go up to my MIC of 16kVA on an NC7 application and there wouldn't be any grid upgrades required, right?
