[RE-wrenches] Feed-in tariffs and internal offsets

[Troy]

The utility feed-in meters right off the inverter, then separately demand meter off of the load-side meter.

Which means I need to load shift the solar to offset the building loads just shy of net zero, then export the excess on the feed-in meter (because you can’t net meter). I could set it up with a bunch of small inverters and subarrays, and use contactors to switch A/B the inverters one at a time between the demand side and export side. But I thought there must be product solutions for this already. Any thoughts?



> On May 30, 2016, at 9:08 PM, Mac Lewis <maclewis1 at gmail.com <mailto:maclewis1 at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
> Hi Troy,
> 
> Does this little utility have a Time of Use rate structure?  How often do they true up (pay the customer for their extra power)? 
> 
> There are various  markets that this makes sense, Germany, Hawaii etc.  They call this type of system a self-consumption system.  It does require energy storage/management.  There are quite a few companies out there that are doing this now, Outback, Schneider Electric, Sonnen etc.  The pricing that you are stating $0.08 retail, will make this extremely difficult (impossible) to offer any type of payback for a system like this.  However, you can offer excellent backup power and a "future-proof" system ready for almost any type of rate structure.  Some of these systems can also intelligently reduce demand charges by exporting power out of the battery bank during high energy use.
> 
> What makes the most sense will really depend on the rate structure.  If the utility says that they will pay whole sale for overproduction, ask them how often they check the meter.  Do they net-meter?  When is the check cut for excess energy production?  It's common for a utility to only pay whole-sale for over-production, but allow you to off-set retail electricity rates.  We have a utility that used to pay off any excess in January.  This was a rotten deal for solar customers because they would get paid whole sale for what they over produced in the summer in the dark days of winter would be buying retail.  They have changed this policy to have a continuous rollover option.
> 
> Good Luck
> 
> 
> On Mon, May 30, 2016 at 11:23 AM, Troy <taharvey at heliocentric.org <mailto:taharvey at heliocentric.org>> wrote:
> I am dealing with a small utility that only provides a small feed-in tariff (basically wholesale). Customer wouldn’t have much value to install PV when they sell in at 5 cents, and buy back at 8 cents.
> 
> However, if we load shifted the PV to provide an internal offset on the consumption meter (but staying clear of exporting), and move any excess to the tariff meter we could make the PV more valuable by offsetting the 8 cent power first, rather than just producing 5 cent power all the time.
> 
> Has anyone done this? Are there legal hurdles? Any reason one can be legally stopped from offsetting their own power?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Troy
> Heliocentric
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Thanks,

Troy Harvey
---------------------
Principal Engineer
Heliocentric
801-453-9434
taharvey at heliocentric.org

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