Wholesale rate for electricity v Feed-In rate

[PAULinTHAILAND]

Last month wholesale rates for electricity in the UK were over £2,000 per MWh = £2 per kWh but feed-in rates were nowhere near that. With more homes having solar; home storage and EVs with V2L why do we need peaker plants or massive grid transmission line expansion.

Here in Thailand I get zero feed in rate. What rates are others getting?

 

[smokie]

I'm on 60.3p FIT plus 2.12p per unit generated.

Panels installed in 2011, so that's the Government payout, guaranteed till 2036 (rises by inflation).

Earlier adopters are doing even better but I'm happy

 

[JimD]

I get 15p per kwh from Octopus. It's 32p ish per unit to buy from them.

 

[Jomarkh]

I'm on 60.3p FIT plus 2.12p per unit generated.

Panels installed in 2011, so that's the Government payout, guaranteed till 2036 (rises by inflation).

Earlier adopters are doing even better but I'm happy

How much do you export at that FIT rate?

 

[smokie]

Hmm maybe a terminology problem (mine). I get the 60p for every kWh I generate, plus there is an assumption that you feed in 50% of your generation and so they pay half of the 4.25p export rate.

Over the years my annual generation has varied from 2500 to 2900 kWh. The rate changes (by inflation) in March and last year I received a bit over £1700.

The panels cost me £10,500 back in 2011 and I got that back in about the first 8 years despite a fairly long inverter outage over a lot of one summer (eventually replaced under warranty) and I then had to buy a replacement when the replacement broke a few years later! I also paid someone a few hundred to bird-proof the panels but no other significant costs.

As I said, income is guaranteed till 2036 (and is tax free) so it turned out to have been a good investment!!

 

[Hairyfool]

I queried the price being paid for exporting to the grid seeing as the amount the suppliers were charging consumers had risen. I was told there is a formula to increase the FIT but was based on RPI which is nothing like the price hikes applied specifically to electricity.

My panels were cheaper but I have never quantified the savings in consumption. Installed in 2015 and the FIT+ generation has just covered the installation costs last year. My ABB inverter failed a couple of years ago only to find the installer had ceased trading and the much promoted insurance backed warranty had never been taken out.

Luckily the fault code was known about and there is a repair kit of 4 relays that was available on fleabay for £32. A bit of effort to change them was better than £00's for a new inverter. Also the FIT meter failed, £24 for a like for like replacement.

 

[PAULinTHAILAND]

Here in Thailand there is a Feed-In scheme but it is limited to systems up to 5kW and all components used have to be on the approved list which is rarely updated. There is also mountains of paperwork. Can take up to a year to get approval.

I went for self consumption and a bigger system.

Thought this was a good video on the subject

 

[Hairyfool]

I went for basic solar because I could see the savings it would generate. Trying to do the same for the addons they mostly are much more difficult to show a savings benefit vs up front costs. For example the cost to auto charge the car on surplus power is not small and a battery would be long past its warranty before it paid for itself, especially being at home much of the time.

At the moment I make do with the Mk1 digit

 

[PAULinTHAILAND]

Living in the tropics means we have good sun all year. I can run the house and charge my car my 99% from my system. I imported my inverters and batteries from China. Install costs are very cheap here - payback is about 6 years.

My frustration is not being able to get value from my excess solar as I’m not allowed to export it.