UK Government to face questions and legal action of its handling of the FIT

Ove the last few days reports have been appearing that the UK government are to face a number of challenges to its decision to halve the FIT for PV installations which come online after 12th Dec 2011.

There are two select committees Environmental Audit Committee and Energy and Climate Change Committee which have called for evidence after launching an inquiry into the solar PV Feed-in Tariff and the management of the ongoing consultation to cut the cash subsidy in December. This is reported in a number of websites including http://www.greenwisebusiness.co.uk/news/mps-call-for-evidence-of-ministers-handling-of-feedin-tariff-cuts-2773.aspx

There are also  two legal challenges to the decision to cut the tariff. One, brought by 'Friends of the Earth', is based on the fact that the governement is acting illegally in saying it will halve the tariff before its own consulation on the system is supposed to be completed on the 23rd December 2011. This story is covered by a large number of websites and is best searched for in your favourite search engine..

Seems that yet again some MP's have been caught by not thinking everything through before acting unilaterally.

New reduced FIT rates to arrive 5 months earlier than expected !

It is now in a couple of websites that I have seen that the Feed In Tariff rates will be reduced a lot sooner than originally anticipated.

Most people expected the change to occur in April for the new financial year. However, now the gov't is saying that the pot of money allocated for this scheme is running out quicker than planned.

The scheme was more popular than predicted with domestic installations exploding on the scene as people expected to cash in.

This means that you need to get any new installation signed off by the generating company before the 12th December 2011 to achieve the current rate of 43p/unit generated.

Any installation commissioned after that date (even if you have already paid a deposit with an installer) will drop to just 21p/unit generated.

Of course you will SAVE the same amount of money as you would under the old tariff, but the INCOME will now be less than half of what it was before.

The BBC News website has more on this at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15507750

There may still be other ways in which you can receive payments for using energy efficient or generating systems. Check out the Energy Saving Trusts website which has a database to check out your postcode - http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/

FIT rates to be slashed for new systems after April 2012 ?

I have received an email today from 'TheMoneySavingExpert' website which carries a headline that the guaranteed FIT rates for new systems might be slashed by 50% after April 2012.

If you were considering installing a system soon then I'd get your skates on as you only get the rate after the system has been registered by the generating company.

You'd obviously save money due to not having to pay so much of the large energy prices which are also predicted, but you'd not be able to MAKE money.

The link to the MSE website about this can be found at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/free-solar-panels

There was a warning that this might happen from the same MSE website back in Oct 2010 at the following URL - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/utilities/2010/10/spending-review-solar-feed-in-tariffs-safe-for-now

If more concrete evidence comes in it might be too late as the gov't is hardly likely to advertise sooner rather than later I would think.

Reason for the BLOG here.

First of all I hope it provides some useful information about how I'm going with my installation.

This was done so that others could see whether it would be a good thing for them to do or not.

You can read all the paperwork you like but I decided it would be more useful to see the results from an actual PV plant in the real world in a manner that was easy for a total novice to understand.

I don't profess to be a technical wizard or an entertaining read. I will put anything in I feel relevant at the time.

If you would like to comment on anything posted here I will read them. Are there any points that need clarifying? Would you like to know any more? I will try and answer any questions that arise. 

Recent update to numbers

As we start heading towards Autumn I thought I'd update the blog with some recent numbers and information.

Since installation on 19th Oct 2010 I have generated some 1922.67kWh.

So that means for 265 days, so far, the system has output an average of 7.255kWh/day. which is quite a bit different from previous averages.

25th Apr 2011 (1057.3 kWh) gave an average of 5.62kWh/day.
11th Mar 2011 589.7kWh) gave an average of 4.12kWh/day.
29th Jan 2011 (381.72kWh) gave an average of 3.74kWh/day.
2nd Dec 2010 (198kWh) gave an average of 4.71kWh/day.

If this average per day is carried for the whole year we get an annual generation of 2648kWh. This will obviously need to be monitored for the full year to get the exact number but isn't too far off I think.

The numbers shown on my Solar Plant webpage have so far logged a few days of data from Apr - Jun 2011. Due to issues logged previously in this blog I am missing a few days worth of data at the end of April and the beginning of May 2011.

April 2011 -22 days recorded 342.01 kWh generated = 15.54 kWh/day.

May 2011 -28 days recorded 325.60 kWh generated = 11.63 kWh/day.

June 2011 - 30 days recorded 342.54 kWh generated = 11.4 kWh/day.

New webbox now online

I have now managed to get the new webbox to update data to the website.

The link is http://www.sunnyportal.com/Templates/PublicPageOverview.aspx?page=8a8df88c-86da-42f7-9497-65d2257a8432&plant=a90e1031-e03b-4882-96fd-96a1c4209705&splang=en-GB

Hopefully this one will last a little longer than the last one. It has back dated all the way to the 4th May 2011.

I will have to set up the pages again which should be done fairly soon.

New box arrives from SMA

This morning I received an email from SMA about the replacement box they were sending. to me with a tracking number.

When I entered the number into the system it said it couldn't be delivered due to an inaccurate address. After trying to get through to somebody to speak to they said it only had a postcode on it. After talking to them I arranged for the parcel to be redelivered in the morning.

After getting back from the sailing a neighbour came over with a parcel. He had been up to the depot for another reason and when he said he was from the street they asked if he knew me. As he said yes they gave it to him.

The box has now been installed. From initial interaction it would appear that the box is uploading data to the Sunny Portal website. I have gone through the registration process again but haven't received the access email yet to set up the website, so I can't check it out or set it up. Hopefully the email will arrive sometime soon.

New payment by EON for 2nd quarter 2011

This morning I have received another set of FIT from EON for generation between 25th Jan 2011 to 25th April 2011.

The paperwork contained two letters, one for the old tariff rate of 42.8p/kWh and the other for the new rate of 44.85p/kWh.

The first payment is for 488 kWh between 25th Jan 2011 to 30th Mar 2011 = (488 x 41.3) + (0.5 x 488 x 3) = £208.86

The second payment is for 188 kWh between 1st April 2011 to 25th April 2011 = (188 x 43.3) + (0.5 x 188 x 3) = £84.31

This makes a total of £293.17. 

New FIT rates

FIT rates have apparently gone up by 5%. Not had any official statement from EON yet but they should be applicable (for me) from at least 25th April 2011.

The rates change from
generation: 41.3p/kWh to 43.3p/kWh
export: 3p/kWh to 3.1p/kWh

With the agreed assumption of 50% export this gives me a new rate of 44.85p/kWh

Payback issues with suppliers...

I have had no problems with my payments from my supplier EON.

I recently submitted my most recent reading to them. They sent me a mail back the same day saying that my payment might be a little delayed, due to all the bank holidays we're currently having, for one reason or another. As I wasn't expecting anything for some time I was very pleased with this.

A friend of mine who happened to get his installation done just before me, IS having trouble getting his supplier to sort out his paperwork. This means he hasn't received a penny, doesn't even know if they've registered his installation and is now getting the ombudsman involved.

I will try to keep up to date with this on my blog. I wonder if there is a forum for this?? I will investigate.

In fact there seem to be quite a few. I will look at http://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/ which claims to be the 'UK's most popular Renewable Energy Forum'.

Replacement webbox on its way.....

Well there's a surprise. SMA have come back very quickly earlier today saying they'd like to replace my unit for another one. I have given them my address and am now waiting.

In my recent contact to SMA I sent them the files that had been stored on the SD card since the initial installation. This has now been uploaded to the Sunny Portal website and my data is now available for the period  12th March - 21st April 2011.

The data presentation is very good and so far easily meets my requirements. Small niggles to get over with the webbox but once it's running well it'll keep going.

SMA webbox issues

As previously reported the SMA webbox stopped reporting my readings to the internet on the 17th March 2011.

A good friend of mine came round yesterday to help me discover why this was.

The webbox was getting data from the inverter in the loft but did not pass it on. I thought it might be because of the small SD (256mb) card we had installed. This was found to be in error. The card had nearly two months worth of data on it and only took up 1.36mb, nowhere near the card limit. I have now bought a 2Gb card just to have a new one.

It turns out that the webbox is not running a web host so we can not login into it using a web browser. We can ping the box and even start a telnet session, but not get past the login prompt as we didn't have the correct username/password combination. I have sent SMA an email and now waiting for them to get back to me. Not expecting a quick reply to be honest.

When we initially got the box running it was only with the help of my mate, as the instructions seemed to assume I had a IPv6 server. These systems at the moment are generally only found in bigger systems not in a domestic house.

I will keep posting irregular updates as and when new thoughts or events become apparent. Not even sure if this blog is being read by anybody but at least I'm getting data out there.

UPDATE - UPDATE - UPDATE - UPDATE - UPDATE

It was down to the guys in Germany at SMA. They didn't give me the technical answer, but after sending them an email stating my isssue, they said they'd look into it and suddenly my data is back!

New meter reading to the electricity company - Pay back in 12.3years

This morning I have submitted the latest reading to EON of 1057.3 kWh.

Since the installation went live on the 19th Oct 2010 this equates to 5.62kWh/day for 188days. The previous readings so far have been

11th Mar 2011 (589.7kWh) gave an average of 4.12kWh/day.
29th Jan 2011 (381.72kWh) gave an average of 3.74kWh/day.
2nd Dec 2010 (198kWh) gave an average of 4.71kWh/day.

If 5.62kWh is applied for the whole year this would equate to 2051.3kWh.

At the previous rate of 42.8p/kWh this gives me £877.95 of money paid to me.

As I initially paid approx £10800 for the system completely installed I will pay off the system in 12.3years at the current rate of return.

The return on investment is approx 8.13% per annum.

This does not take into account any money saved by using energy generated during the day, or any increase in the rates paid to me.

Webbox not reporting status at the moment

Wouldn't you Adam and Eve it. As soon as I leave the webbox alone for a day or so it stops reporting data to the web.

This could take a few days to sort out. Up until the 15th March 2011 it was reporting data every 15mins.

It could be that the small SD card (512mb) is full or the box has lost power or any number of other things.

It will take me a while to sort through that. I hope to get it back up online as soon as possible.

Public display of system output now live

After a bit of frustration and much gnashing of teeth I now have an online presence for The Swamp Electricity Generation Board. The link is here.

The page layout etc. may change as I get more used to the data which is shown. Hopefully these views will be of use to the wider public.

At the moment one of the tabs looks like this -

SMA webbox issues

Well what a faff installing the SMA webbox was.

I got the equipment and connected it straight into my router. I then tried to access it via the wireless system from a laptop.

This initially let me in to change various settings, but only the once. Each subsequent time I tried to login, it told me that somebody was already logged in. Not a lot of use that.

I tried all sorts of things including power off and even got a pin to reset the machine. Still no good. As I'm not the most technically savvy fella I thought I'd ask the guys at SMA.de Not impressed with the technical support. After sending what I thought was a fairly technical email all I got for a reply was 'Which country are you'.....

Eventually I resorted to calling round a good friend of mine who is network savvy.

The manual and supplied CD was talking about having to set up a computer with IPv6 before you could access the webbox to set it up. According to the tech savvy dude this type of nextwork was only for big machines costing £1000's. Also this would require 6 sets of numbers for the internet address but the supplied paperwork was only quoting 4 sets, i.e. IPv4.

We decided not to use the CD, but try and setup by directly connecting the webbox to an older laptop and follow the written instructions.

Eventually we got it running and the data is being uploaded.

Update on the numbers so far.

Today's reading on the generation meter is 589.7kWh.

It is 143 days since installation on 19th October 2010.

The average so far is therefore 4.12kWh/day. This average has dropped a little from the review I did on the 2nd Dec 2010 which was at 4.71kWh/day.

At the current FIT rate of 42.8p/kWh this equates to £1.76/day which over the year is £644.22/year.

This does not take into account the amount of energy I use while I'm generating. I have taken to using my washing machine etc. during the day so that my usage is further reduced.

Further reviews will be done until I get a whole year in the bag.

UK announces Renewable Heat Incentive scheme today

As well as getting paid for generating electricity using solar panels and wind turbines the UK government is now going to include other systems such as solar water heating in its effort to reduce the amount of electricity required from fossil fuelled power stations.

The announcement was made today at the following link - http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/PN2011_023/PN2011_023.aspx

"The tariffs will be paid for 20 years to eligible technologies that have installed since 15th July 2009 with payments being made for each kWh of renewable heat which is produced."

"Once in the scheme the level of support an installation will receive is fixed and adjusted annually with inflation. However, as with feed in tariffs, we expect the levels of support available for new entrants to the RHI scheme will decrease over time as the costs of the equipment and installation reduce through economies of scale."

Review of the UK's FIT system earlier than originally expected

According to the website http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn11_010/pn11_010.aspx there will be a review of the FIT's by the end of 2011.

This is due to the fact that large companies are possibly soaking up all the money that was intended for the smaller scale producers such as myself.

There is a note near the bottom which might affect those people thinking about getting in on the act. If you're waiting for improvements to the solar panels etc and hoping to get in before the tariff's go down it might be worth taking this into account.

"The Government will not act retrospectively and any changes to generation tariffs implemented as a result of the review will only affect new entrants into the FITs scheme. Installations which are already accredited for FITs at the time will not be affected."

Difficulties with webbox

As per usual it is probably something I've done wrong but I'm having trouble getting the webbox to do what I want.

At present I can't seem to login to check/change the settings. Waiting on reply from SMA for answers hopefully.

Step closer to getting system live on the web.

I have now received an SMA webbox which should allow me to post the system status on the web.

It is not a cheap piece of kit for the average home user but I am committed to getting my information out there for the wider community to see how well my system is doing.

Currently going through the manual. I have connected the unit to the router and changed the NetID pot switch to enable communication with the inverter in the loft.

Now it should just be a case of setting up the web programs etc.

First FIT payment from e.on

I have got my first payment from the electricity company.

I supplied a reading to them on the 25th January 2011 and I received a statement dated the 31st January 2011.

The reading was 381 kWh from the 20th October 2010.

The rate is 41.3p/kWh generated + 3p/50% kWh generated. The average rate is therefore 42.8p/kWh.

The total they're sending to me works out as £163.07p. This will be paid into the nominated bank account in 5 - 10 working days.