Microgeneration - Get paid for making electricity

The Clean Export Guarantee scheme provides for the remuneration, reflecting market value, to customers for their renewable, self-generated, exported electricity which is surplus to their own consumption. These arrangements apply to domestic and non-domestic customers who are renewables self-consumers with any size of generation capacity installed, including micro-scale, mini-scale, and small-scale generation.

Customers must be registered with a supplier under this Scheme to receive payment.

Microgen (up to 6kVA)

• Suitable for small solar PV or wind systems.
• Requires the NC6 form for connection with ESB Networks. This form can be found on ESB Networks website.

• Be a Pinergy Customer: To receive export payments from Pinergy, you need an active Pinergy account.
• Renewables Self-Consumer: You must meet the EU’s definition of “renewables self-consumer”[1], which is someone who produces renewable energy on their own property to use themselves.
• Connection Completion: Ensure that the installation process with ESB Networks is complete, including completion of the NC6 form, with your system registered in the Central Market Systems (CMS).
• Smart Meter Requirement: To qualify for full export payments, you must have a smart meter installed. If a smart meter is unavailable, you may qualify for deemed payments calculated based on estimated usage, provided you haven’t declined a smart meter installation. Further information on this is included in the following two questions.

• If you have been offered a Smart Meter and have refused to have one installed, you will not be eligible. However, if you are not eligible to have a smart meter installed, you can avail of deemed export.
• If you are eligible for a Smart Meter and you have installed Microgen, ESBN should install a smart meter within four months of you registering your MEC using the appropriate form. If ESBN do not install a smart meter within the four-month period, you will be entitled to deemed payments from the point at which the four-month period lapses up until your smart meter is installed.

Customers who do not have an ESB Networks Smart Meter will be paid by a “Deemed Export Quantity” which is an estimation.

This estimation is based on an ESB Networks formula, of exported electricity in kWh: it will be used as a proxy for metered export data,

The formula to calculate Deemed export quantity = MEC x Capacity Factor x Export Factor x Provision Interval.

Where:

MEC is a capacity value in units of kW, representing the generation capacity of the installed generation equipment, as declared via ESBN’s NC7 (or equivalent) form

Capacity Factor is the ratio of average electricity produced to the theoretical maximum possible if the installed capacity was generating at a maximum for a full year. CRU have proposed this value is set at 9.7% for all technology types. It is the average capacity factor of photovoltaic panels

Export Factor is the amount of electricity (expressed as a percentage of electricity produced) deemed to be exported, where the metered data is not available. CRU have set this value at 35%

Provision Interval is the number of hours in the period for which cumulative export quantities are to be calculated and to be made available to suppliers by ESBN

Example of a deemed calculation:

Sample calculation for Deemed Export Quantity

Example: Commercial customer with an MEC of 50 and where the “Provision Interval” is 12 months (= 8760 hours)

Deemed Export Quantity = MEC x Capacity Factor x Export Factor x Provision Interval

Deemed Export Quantity = 14,870.1kWh (=50 X 0.097 x 0.35 x 8760)

• Monthly Payments: Export payments are credited monthly and will appear on your Pinergy App or bill. Please note that payments are based on readings received by ESBN. In some cases, readings from ESBN may not be received by the time your bill has been issued. In such cases, the value you see on your App versus your bill may look different as the information displayed on your App is more up to date. Any difference will be accurately reflected in your following months bill.
• Feed-in Tariff Rate: The current rate for domestic microgen export is 25c per kWh (incl. VAT). Pinergy will provide 30 days’ notice if this rate changes.

• Your installer should submit the NC6 form for you. If you haven’t been contacted post-installation, check with your installer or ESB Networks to confirm that the correct form was submitted. More information and all necessary forms are available on ESB Networks website.