V2G Tariff, Smart Meters, and Solar Panel Export Payments - how does it all link up?

Can anybody from OVO help me with the above? Surely there’s a way to earn some export income from these solar panels?

Hi @Hari_OVO and thank you so much for your helpful reply!

Your reply does indeed answer the bulk of my questions on this topic. It's always seemed crazy that there could be people out there generating electricity, feeding it onto the grid, and yet not receiving any kind of credit or payment for that. Utilities and DNOs pay generators for the electricity produced and fed onto the grid - if individuals are slapping solar panels on the roof and providing that energy to the grid, why shouldn't they receive payment for it too, given the energy produced will then be resold for a profit?

The recent news that the government are looking to legislate for utility companies to pay export payments is wonderful news, and hopefully should open up a lot of exciting possibilities for people who are generating electricity and feeding it back, regardless of how it's produced.

I'm not surprised your V2G tariff is only open to Nissan Leaf owners at this trial stage. However, would it be reasonable to assume that once the tariff is complete, you intend this tariff to be open to the public, and anyone is free to sign up for that tariff, that it won't be limited to Nissan Leaf owners?

Also, would it be fair to say Ovo will be looking to introduce export credits more broadly after the government's latest announcement?

The tying-together of EV car and solar generation, EV and home battery storage, smart meters and export payments opens up a lot of exciting possibilities for individuals... to generate and to import electricity during 'off-peak' periods, charge up the car, store it for use at 'peak' consumption times, and then discharge the surplus onto the grid during peaks when it's needed most in exchange for payment.

We live in exciting and innovative times. :)

Kind regards,
Steve

Hi Steve @Rishi the Fox ,

They are indeed exciting and innovative times - we're really looking forward to rolling out our V2G trial this year and see how those who are on the trial get on with it. The feedback we get will be crucial to whatever comes next!

People who generate electricity via their solar panels at the minute do receive a 'deemed export payment' - as exports aren't specifically measured via your solar panels generation meter, exports are assumed as 50% of the total generated, and as part of the FiT scheme you're paid 5.14p/kWh exported. It's really unfortunate that the previous owner of your property didn't register for the FiT scheme, I can't work out why they didn't!

But yes, this export payment will cease for customers installing new solar panels later this year. Unfortunately I'm not aware of what our plans would be around offering export credits beyond the V2G trial, so that's a tough one for me to answer!

I am really positive about the future of V2G though. As you say, it has the potential to open up a lot of exciting possibilities. As mentioned above, we're hoping to use our upcoming trial to test, learn and then move forward - so what the future looks like for us in the V2G space is still not completely defined either!

Sorry - probably haven't been able to give you as clear cut answers as you might have hoped for! Anything else, do let me know!

Hari

I'd like to add a further positive update to what you've asked@Rishi the Fox :

The amount that OVO can credit a customer for supplying the grid will change as the algorithms used to calculate this get developed.

Electricity tariffs are composed of three elements:

• the buy-in cost of the energy to OVO (assessed each half-hour)
• the network charge payable to your DNO
• OVO's profit

Each customer has their own network charge notified to OVO, which is used to generate your bills. The present system means that most residential customers in the same region have the same charge. So all OVO's customers in Exeter will be "C1" or whatever.

However, DNO's are now required by Ofgem to reduce system losses under a scheme called RIIO. Their future revenue is directly linked to their success. RIIO-ED1 (Electricity Distribution, Phase-1) is shortly to be replaced by RIIO-ED2 which will require DNO's to take active steps to change the way its customers use the network.

Much of the technical loss (ie not including theft!) is due to imbalances at the sub-station level. Phase imbalance manifests itself in heat and noise emitted from the transformers which step down from 11kV.

However, less than 100 of the 240,000 substations have any monitoring installed. So DNO's try to diagnose imbalances and overloads by generating stats on reported faults and batch-analysis of those of us with Smart Meters.

Customers who have installed solar-panels onto single-phase domestic supplies are the major cause on increased technical losses. Worse still, because the electricity is generated during the day when many home-owners are out working, the over-generation isn't used locally, and gets passed back up the line to the area-stations (32kV) and the national network (132kV).

In future DNOs will need to change the Network Charges for customers according to how much loading or relief they provide to the Distribution Grid.

So a householder with Storage Batteries and/or an EV (with a V2G charger) will find that their network charges get lowered if they provide access to their stored charge when there are demand peaks.

Equally, homes that are particularly burdonsome to the network may see their network charges increased.

So the lower 2p /unit that @Hari_OVO has just quoted for credits if the home has solar panels as well as a Home Battery, is likely to rise. The key is that the DNO needs to be able to call on that power when it is required.

In many cases, the homes with PV and Batteries will be given the most credit because their energy hasn't ever had to travel down the Transmission Grid in the first place.

Does that make sense?

HI .@Rishi the Fox
I think it sounds like the previous owners of your house went for one of the free solar installations if you let the installation firm have the Fits payments, under these circumstances you only get any electricity you can use when generating.

That would explain why they didn't register for Fits and means that a company somewhere is getting your Fits payments.
Rregards to all Pete

I have 3 questions.

1. When will people like me who live in Scotland, have solar panels, receive the FIT payment and own a 24 Kw Leaf be able to join your scheme?
2. Why are Scottish people being prevented from joining now?
3. If Rishi's FIT payment is going to the firm who installed the system (which is very likely) will this firm have to cancel the FIT claim before Rishi can join your scheme?

Jim

I also live in Scotland and have solar panels. I'm just in the process of trading in my old Nissan Leaf for a new one. My question about the FIT payments is that once they are waived (a requirement to be in the trial) what happens once the trial is over?

Philippa

Hi @JimTraynor and @Pipc72 - more info about FIT Payments here.

Hi @Hari_OVO
Do you have any indication when this year your V2G trial is expected to start?