Battery Battery Storage Gets A £1m Boost

[SibertSolar]

I'm doing some digging on this, I think we should take it over to the Sun Lounge tbh

 

[CBR600]

I'm doing some digging on this, I think we should take it over to the Sun Lounge tbh

Great. How do the rest of us who don't have access to the sun longe get involved......?

 

[SibertSolar]

Fair point, if another conversation starts in there, any relevant info will also be posted on here

 

[Worcester]

DC coupled doesn't appear to be an issue - single inverter usually and type approved to G83.

It's the AC Coupled / Retrofit environment that the DNO's are sniffy about / potentially requires approval and it's G59 because the potential is there to go over 16A if already got a G83 3.68kW PV inverter attached. Even though the role of the systems is only to provide power on demand to the house load, the systems on the market don't have any formally approved export limitation devices. in practice Western Power are being most flexible and accepting assurances from SMA and Victron, so sometimes it's just a phone call.

Bearing in mind that the better systems can be configured either for uses such as load levelling i.e reducing import or base load support e.g. nighttime discharge then the DNO's are looking favourably on it, and may even start to require it as their infrastructure gets more unevenly loaded.

 

[The Solar King]

DC coupled doesn't appear to be an issue - single inverter usually and type approved to G83.

It's the AC Coupled / Retrofit environment that the DNO's are sniffy about / potentially requires approval and it's G59 because the potential is there to go over 16A if already got a G83 3.68kW PV inverter attached. Even though the role of the systems is only to provide power on demand to the house load, the systems on the market don't have any formally approved export limitation devices. in practice Western Power are being most flexible and accepting assurances from SMA and Victron, so sometimes it's just a phone call.

Bearing in mind that the better systems can be configured either for uses such as load levelling i.e reducing import or base load support e.g. nighttime discharge then the DNO's are looking favourably on it, and may even start to require it as their infrastructure gets more unevenly loaded.

By implication would this mean if you already have a G59 approval and the battery system can't exceed the approved capacity there would be no need for further consent?

 

[Worcester]

By implication would this mean if you already have a G59 approval and the battery system can't exceed the approved capacity there would be no need for further consent?

If I put a hard line regulatory hat on, I would say that you are adding a new generator to the installation and as such I either want to see type approvals, and / or witness testing.

What would you do if you added more PV to a system with that pre-existing approval? (Even if you aren't going to claim any form of Feed in Tariff for the extra PV)

Same rules would apply.

 

[SibertSolar]

If the DNC is changing, then wouldn't the documentation associated with the original application need updating? I'd be surprised if we see type-tested solutions, and external G59 relays are going to add at least £1500 to the system cost, plus circa £500 for site testing, plus whatever the DNO charges should they insist on the pleasure of their company

 

[Gavin A]

thing is, these systems aren't designed to export onto the grid at all, they're zero export devices, so as long as they have G83 protection settings I don't really see that it has anything to do with the DNO.

 

[SibertSolar]

Completely agree, I believe discussions with DNOs are ongoing, but it certainly seems that some of them are considering some systems as adding generation capacity, for some strange reason. Maybe it will become clearer/more sensible soon