South Australia feed-in tariff: System size limits and how to define them

Aug. 16, 2011 - PRLog -- The South Australia state parliament has made some changes to its solar power feed-in tariff scheme. Among the amendments to the SA Electricity Act 1996, is the decision to terminate the SA feed-in tariff program on 1 October 2011.

Other scheme details:

1.       The cut-off date for the current feed-in scheme is 1st October 2011. Approved applications for permission to connect must be lodged by midnight 30 September, 2011.

2.       Although an amendment to increase the feed-in tariff rate of $0.44 per kWh to $0.54 per kWh for existing customers was initially proposed, this part of the bill was not passed. Unfortunately, there will be no 54c/kWh feed-in tariff for existing or new members of the scheme.

3.       Solar power producers will only be credited for the first 45 kWh of electricity per day fed into the grid. There is also a limitation of one generator (solar power system) per person, but it does not matter whether the system is on a residence or a business.

4.       Restrictions to the eligible size of a solar system–10 kilowatts for a single-phase system.* Eligibility is limited to one system/generator per customer.

5.      Exclusion of systems which are believed to be ‘for profit’ (hence the 45kWh/day limit, and the limitation of one generator per person.)

6.       Potential for a household to not qualify for the scheme if they increase the size of their system or are ‘disconnected for any period’.

However, if you sell your house or buy a new house, the feed-in tariff contract will be transfered with your meter/home to the new owner (provided you do not take the system down). This means added value to your home should you decide to sell it! Likewise, if you buy a house that has a system feeding into the grid on the 44c tariff, you will reap the benefits of the previous owner’s contract when you move in. Remember that the scheme is valid until 2028!

*–Clarification 16 August–

A clarification on ETSA the criteria for defining nominal system capacity: This question was a minor problem previously, as there was no standard practice for determining whether solar system capacity was based on solar panel array peak output or peak inverter output (which effectively limits solar panel array output). Please note that ETSA defines nominal capacity by peak solar PV array output.

For more details please visit: http://www.solarchoice.net.au/blog/proposed-changes-to-so...

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