garygid
Well-known member
I signed and passed on to two SDG&E-customer friends.
LKK said:Finally, as a solar owner, I've wondered what happens with the solar renewable energy credits. I know I'm not getting it, and before I got my EV, I was generating considerably more than a MWH of excess power a year. Are the utilities getting them? If so, shouldn't these also be considered in the equation?
We just got prompted by our solar installer to consider registering with "www.theleafexchange.com" (no relation to Nissan LEAF), an aggregator of Distributed Generator (ie residential solar) Renewable Energy Credits. It seems like a potentially prudent thing to do. We aren't yet able to sell our credits, but if/when we are, there will apparently be some retroactive window, but only if you've logged the credits in some official way. Anybody else been prompted by their installer or other info/research to pursue something like this? Apparently you can do it yourself (register with wregis.org, the record keeper and perhaps market maker for RECs), but there's an annual fee...the flip side is this aggregator will take a small cut of any REC you end up selling on the not-yet-established market, but they'll take care of the details.
I wonder how this might relate, or not, to the Utilities at some point raising their AB920 rate in order to buy our RECs...that doesn't quite seem plausible though, because according to what I've read, RECs are on gross generation, not net surplus. Even a smart net meter doesn't record gross generation, so presumably the validation of credits would have to come from inverter data, which begs the question of the utility-grade-ness of that data...
Anyway - anybody know anything about this?
LKK said:Finally, as a solar owner, I've wondered what happens with the solar renewable energy credits. I know I'm not getting it, and before I got my EV, I was generating considerably more than a MWH of excess power a year.
lonndoggie said:If you want to put your name on an electronic petition arguing against their proposed rate hike, here's your chance:
http://signon.org/sign/fight-san-diego-gas-electric?source=c.url&r_by=1255831" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
lonndoggie said:If you want to put your name on an electronic petition arguing against their proposed rate hike, here's your chance:
http://signon.org/sign/fight-san-diego-gas-electric?source=c.url&r_by=1255831" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It's hard to say exactly how this will affect your bill without knowing how the network use charge is calculated, but sounds like they will be applying a demand charge similar to what is charged to commercial customers.The typical monthly residential electric bill may be further impacted by SDG&E’s proposal to replace the existing 17 cents/day (approximately $5.00) minimum bill with a $3.00 monthly basic service fee and the introduction of a network use
charge that will begin to be phased into rates in January 2014 (at a level reflecting 50% of the distribution costs
that will be allocated to this charge) and which will be fully phased in by January 2015. The charge for network
use recovers the costs of distribution assets based on each customer’s demand on the distribution network.
This network use charge would be applied on an import and export basis
I think if SDG&E gets this requested increase we'll probably see a lot of batteries added to grid tied houses. Not the huge battery banks that would be needed to go completely off-grid, but just big enough to hold all of your daytime peak PV production to avoid sending a single kW back to SDG&E, and then use that energy at night to avoid drawing from SDG&E. Of course that tactic only works for homeowners who are net electricity consumers rather than net generators - something that owning a LEAF makes a little easier. Net producers would have to calculate whether they'd be better off selling their excess production for a pittance and paying a huge transmission cost to do so, or just dissipate it. I'm going to talk to some solar companies to see whether installing a small battery buffer like that is feasible.garygid said:It's a big step to go completely off-Grid, but, if pressed,
some PV owners might consider doing just that.
Of course the energy storage for nights and
cloudy days is a significant issue.
So, moving much usage to peak hours, so there is no excess generation
(for SDG&E to sell), and arranging to have very little use during evenings
and at night (for SDG&E to charge us for) ...
is an intermediate step that many might consider.
Yes I think we should! I am very interested to know how this concept relates to having a Leaf.garygid said:We should start a "Grid-Tied Island" thread, I suspect.
If you're a typical household where you don't consume a whole lot during the day while the sun is shining, you're going to need a much bigger battery pack than you think.walterbays said:I think if SDG&E gets this requested increase we'll probably see a lot of batteries added to grid tied houses. Not the huge battery banks that would be needed to go completely off-grid, but just big enough to hold all of your daytime peak PV production to avoid sending a single kW back to SDG&E, and then use that energy at night to avoid drawing from SDG&E.
Net generators are already paid a pittance - it makes no sense financially to install a home PV system that generates more power than you use in a year.walterbays said:Of course that tactic only works for homeowners who are net electricity consumers rather than net generators - something that owning a LEAF makes a little easier. Net producers would have to calculate whether they'd be better off selling their excess production for a pittance and paying a huge transmission cost to do so, or just dissipate it.
Currently, not really. There's only about 35 MW of residential PV installed in SDG&E's region and about 37 MW of non-residential PV. SDG&E connects about 1 MW of residential PV a month - has maintained this rate for the past 2 years now.walterbays said:Of course if everyone did that then SDG&E would need a lot of new generating capacity to replace that daytime peak production currently supplied by rooftop PV, plus new transmission capacity to bring it into the county.
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