Many domestic renewable energy installations do not cover the total electricity requirements of the property, so you may not believe that there is the opportunity to sell renewable energy to an electricity supplier. It can be the case, however, that more power is generated than is required, even if this is simply on a seasonal basis. As the energy is not usually stored, rather than waste it you can sell renewable energy to your energy supplier. In addition, there are opportunities to make money even if you use most of the power you produce.
There are a few different ways to sell renewable energy to the electricity network, namely via export, generation and set-price tariffs. An export tariff will pay you for any electricity exported to the network. A generation tariff will pay you for all electricity generated even if some of it is actually used by your property. A set-price tariff is less common and simply pays a fixed amount annually which is determined by the capacity of the installation.
So which is the best way to sell renewable energy? Generally, an export tariff works out better if you’ll only use a small amount of the power you generate, whilst a generation tariff will be best if you will use most of the electricity yourself. There are a number of different tariffs offered by various providers, however, so it is wise to shop around for the best deal. In both cases a new export or generation meter will be required and this may or may not be provided free of charge, another factor to consider when deciding on the provider to deal with. The Energy Saving Trust has a buy back database in which you can search for the available deals.
In addition to the opportunity to sell renewable energy in this way, don’t forget about Renewable Obligation Certificates which are awarded according to the amount of power you generate. Some tariffs include payment for these so also check this out.
Go to our Electricity Feed-in Tariffs page for information on the set prices which will be available in 2010, offering greater security if you wish to sell renewable energy.
Source: www.est.org.uk 2009
