Partner Article

Use it rather than sell it?

Solar PV owners should use their harvested power rather than selling it back to the grid under the current arrangements, argues Mark Elliott of Energeno.

Before the sun sets on its renewable aspirations, the Government last week tried to bring some clarity to its position and the FIT debate. Once DECC’s legal appeal to the Supreme Court is done and dusted, a position that I feel should be abandoned, the ‘degression’ model proposed begins to shape
what cash will be offered to get the balance right between strategic incentives for Solar PV installations and what has been seen as smothering the renewable industry at birth.

The latter position was highlighted when the Government prematurely slashed the FIT in half after the 12th December 2011 – the subject of the legal action and DECC defeat in the High Court. All this achieved was to create a ‘gold rush’ with the UK installing more solar PV units before cut-off date than the installer community did in the whole of France, one of Europe’s largest solar-friendly countries for 2011. The debate instead should centre around making electricity where the sun shines and the industry should acknowledge that certain parts of the UK are less solar efficient than others, the north of the UK simply does not have the hours of warm sunlight that the south-west enjoys, a major factor in the mass migration of retired folk to the south coast. This approach might weed out some of the more
opportunistic elements of the installer market who would fall foul of REAL directives in making the exaggerated claims about return on investment. This is something that the WHICH Report on solar PV selling flagged up last year and the industry needs to ensure that installations are well situated, and installers take the lead in assisting customers’ understanding of the matter.

Those are looking to enjoy good returns on their solar could get a better financial return on their investment by strategically using the harvested electricity generated, rather than selling the excess back to the grid.
Indeed, homeowners can save themselves more money this way, particularly on the ‘big ticket’ household appliance use, including washing, drying and heating hot water, all of which are currently used at times that the sun doesn’t shine..

Selling energy back to the grid was a central plank of the argument to invest, and it still can be. However, for householders to get faster and better returns, they must take true control of their outgoings and have a more intimate knowledge of the household’s heavier energy use, such as winter heating and tapping into your harvested excess to offset that cost, is a better use of the accumulated energy. Irrespective of the FIT, these are practical householder tips that can help consumers maximise the leverage from their investment. New investors must also remember that they can benefit from the huge reductions in the cost of solar panels – up to 70% in some instances. People smile when the sun shines and this combination of cost
reduction strategies must be taken into consideration for the bigger picture view of the renewable industry.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .