I’ve been ringing energy providers enquiring about their feed in tariffs. A few have their higher FITs but the system installed must be less than 10KW. I live in SA by the way.
Is it true that the size of the system is determined on the inverter alone? I am looking at installing 10.85KW of panels with an 8.2KW inverter. Some providers have looked at the 10.85KW of panels and said “too big”, others have gone on how many panels I’m installing (31) and others have said “you’re ok because your inverter is under 10KW”.
All too confusing just when I thought I was getting to the end of my research!
Any advice on how its determined would be greatly appreciated.
It does depend on the electrical distributor as to what their rules are. Fortunately in SA you only have one distributor SA Power Networks (ETSA as I knew it). It’s not super clear on their website from what I can read, but you should be able to get an answer with a phone call. They make the rules, so you want to listen to them not a retailer (you might have to explain to the retailer what the rules are once you speak with SA Power Networks!).
Thank you so much for your response. I have just been on the phone to SA Power Networks and they cannot help me unfortunately. They’ve indicated that it is not them who defines what entails the size of a solar panel system and it isn’t written in legislation either.
They pretty much said, it is up to the retailer…and given that I’ve received conflicting information from them already, it doesnt appear that they follow a consistent pattern either.
Appreciate your help, I’ll keep looking around.
Thanks again!
John
Really, wow that is strange. In Vic and NSW it is the distributor who decides. Leaving it to the retailer, as you’ve found out, can only lead to confusion.
That sounds quite frustrating, apologies for the red herring.
Btw, for what it’s worth, almost all distributors base it off of the inverter rating. Which of course makes sense. You can have 100kW of solar panels, but if the inverter is only 5kW, that’s what is going to be exported. Basing it off panels makes no sense.
When asked do you have solar say yes it is 8.2kw, as that would be the max you generate. Don’t tell them what kw in panels you have. You are more likely talking to people who don’t even know what an investor is anyway.