Increased system FIT

[PV Martin]

Can someone please jog my memory on how the FITs work when you increase a PV system, i have a customer where i installed a 9.9kW system earlier this year, and he has just called me and said he would like the same again !! Great work if you can get it, lol :hurray:.

but i cannot remember for the life of me How this is covered under the FIT, i understand that it takes him over the 10kW threshold, but does the original 9.9kW stay at the original FIT rate and the 2nd install get the lower rate? or are both systems combined and the whole new array is at the lower tariff?

do i need to put a 2nd meter in for the 2nd system, or does it go through the same meter?


AGhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! :banghead:

 

[dansk]

Im sure someone else will confirm - but as far i understand, the two systems will be bunched together if there on the same land/close to each other and the TIC will become 19.98Kw

 

[TedM]

If a system is extended less than 12 months after the first install then the whole system is treated as one, and the appropriate tariff will apply to the entire production. For a 10-50 kW system this is 32.9p. The extension will not get the full 25 years as the original start date will apply.

The appropriate date to determine the 12 months from is the Confirmation Date (date system entered onto the Central FiTs Register by the electricity supplier) - but this is about to change and from 31st October it will be the Eligibility Date that matters. Your customer should be able to find the Confirmation Date for his system on his FiTs contract with his electricity supplier.

 

[PV Martin]

Thanks Ted & Dansk,

what about the meter? does it require a 2nd meter or do i put it through the existing?

 

[TedM]

If it's to be treated as one system then you can use the existing meter.

 

[solgen]

If a system is extended less than 12 months after the first install then the whole system is treated as one, and the appropriate tariff will apply to the entire production. For a 10-50 kW system this is 32.9p. The extension will not get the full 25 years as the original start date will apply.

The appropriate date to determine the 12 months from is the Confirmation Date (date system entered onto the Central FiTs Register by the electricity supplier) - but this is about to change and from 31st October it will be the Eligibility Date that matters. Your customer should be able to find the Confirmation Date for his system on his FiTs contract with his electricity supplier.

Hi, Where is this information articled please?

Also I assume that the same rules apply regardless of system size i.e 50kW then another 50kW?

Thank you

 

[TedM]

Yes, the rule applies all the way up to the 5MW limit for FiTs.

The info is included in the original FiTs legislation - here The Feed-in Tariffs (Specified Maximum Capacity and Functions) Order 2010
Specifically Section 15. Eagle-eyed readers will see that paras 2(b) and 4(b) contradict one another which is why DECC are now putting through an amendment to correct it.

The amendment is detailed in the latest DECC consultation on the changes - here Consultation on a change to the rules on the treatment of extensions to installations under the GB Feed-in Tariffs scheme - Department of Energy and Climate Change
which will not come into force until 31st October.

 

[solgen]

Hi Ted,

When talking about extending a system, there's a couple of things I'd like to clarify:

1. By extending a system do you mean adding to the generation capability of the site? I would assume that the original system will have been designed with an inverter(s) matched to the number of panels, therefore, adding equipment means panels as well as inverters etc.

2. What happens if the original system is just under 50kW on one building but then a second system (say 10kW) is added to another building on the same site belonging to the same owner - Within a year of the original install and over a year from the first install?

Thanks

 

[TedM]

Extending a system would be doing anything that increases the TIC/DNC.

Whether two systems are treated as one site depends on several factors, such as postal address, MPAN, OS map ref and anything else that OFGEM want to dream up. If they are treated as one site then the situation could be either:

- extended less than 12 months after first install: the two are treated as a single system with the lower tariff applying to all generation. The 25 year term will apply to all of the combined system from the original Confirmation Date. A 10-50kW system will be getting 32.9p which will be reduced to 19p once a 10kW extension is in place.

- extended more than 12 months after first install: the second system gets its own start date and 25 year term. The original part continues on its own tariff of 32.9p. The new part gets a tariff that is based on the combined TIC of both systems - 19p in this case for 60kW.

So it would be worth waiting for the 12 months to elapse before extending a system that goes over a tariff band but the economics of going over 50kW are very poor since the last tariff review, as you can see.