solar, legalities?

[scorecard]

8 hours ago, Crossy said:

Let's pop this over to the Alternative Energy forum ???? 

 

More and more businesses with large flat areas (roof, car park shades etc.) are realising that at commercial scale solar is increasingly viable.

 

A quick look at Google Maps satellite view in our area shows panels on:-

Makro

Global House

Future Park Rangsit

Mega Home

 

Putting panels on the roof has a dual effect, it generates power of course but the panels also provide a flying-roof which reduces the solar gain too reducing the daytime requirements for A/C. Even in our car-port the roof (and therefore the space itself) is significantly cooler with the panels installed. What's not to like.

 

Hi Crossy, I guess most folks will realize that if you want to sell your excess production to the authorities you need appropriate documentation. And I understand that's not cheap.

 

But what if decide to install a package purely for my own use with no intention to sell any excess:

 

- Is that Allowed?

- Is there permission documentation for this situation, is it expensive?

- If I continuously produce enough to power everything on my property, does that automatically mean the meter becomes still and therefore no monthly power bills from the authorities?

- Is there a monthly meter charge, minimum or similar charge if there is no consumption going through the meter? 

 

Thanks.

[Crossy]

I've split this off from the Solar, Big Time thread as it does address some potential issues for those going solar.

[Crossy]

13 hours ago, scorecard said:

But what if decide to install a package purely for my own use with no intention to sell any excess:

 

- Is that Allowed?

- Is there permission documentation for this situation, is it expensive?

- If I continuously produce enough to power everything on my property, does that automatically mean the meter becomes still and therefore no monthly power bills from the authorities?

- Is there a monthly meter charge, minimum or similar charge if there is no consumption going through the meter? 

 

 

The below is my understanding of the regulations, if anyone has more detailed knowledge please post, I'm absolutely no expert on the convolutions of the Thai feed-in regs.

 

There's nothing to stop you generating your own power, even if you have a grid connection. No permissions or anything needed.

 

BUT

 

Any equipment which has the potential to supply energy to the grid (such as grid-tie inverters) must be approved and if exporting is anticipated the afore-mentioned stack of paperwork is needed. Of course many of us, myself included, just spin the regular meter backwards when the man isn't looking.

 

If the meter isn't going round then there's no usage to record and pay for, I'm not sure if there's a standing charge, our useage has never been low enough to find out ???? 

 

If you really intend going effectively off-grid you're going to need storage, a pretty large amount of storage.

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

If the meter isn't going round then there's no usage to record and pay for, I'm not sure if there's a standing charge, our useage has never been low enough to find out ???? 

According to the PEA calculations it’s about 44 baht. Though if you keep up that usage for long enough there almost certainly will be a change that could involve a meter change.

[nobodysfriend]

On 12/25/2020 at 4:15 PM, scorecard said:

But what if decide to install a package purely for my own use with no intention to sell any excess:

 

- Is that Allowed?

= Yes

- Is there permission documentation for this situation, is it expensive?

= No permission needed

 If I continuously produce enough to power everything on my property, does that automatically mean the meter becomes still and therefore no monthly power bills from the authorities?

= If your house is still connected to the grid , you need to contact the company providing  your electricity , that they send somebody to install a system that automatically cuts off your solar power from the grid in case they are working on the electrical installation outside of your house . It is not allowed to do that by yourself , as it could potentially endanger the people who work on the grid somewhere outside ...

- Is there a monthly meter charge, minimum or similar charge if there is no consumption going through the meter? 

= I guess so , you need to contact your provider to find out how much that is .

 

[Crossy]

40 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

= If your house is still connected to the grid , you need to contact the company providing  your electricity , that they send somebody to install a system that automatically cuts off your solar power from the grid in case they are working on the electrical installation outside of your house . It is not allowed to do that by yourself , as it could potentially endanger the people who work on the grid somewhere outside ...

 

No!!

 

Every single domestic level grid-tie inverter has island protection built in, no need for anything from the power company.

 

If you are intending going over (IIRC) 10kW of installed panels a new set of rules kick in and you may need separate island protection.

 

[nobodysfriend]

I was told this by my provider ...

[Crossy]

6 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

I was told this by my provider ...

 

It's possible that something was lost in translation (they may want to install an export meter) or they just wanted you to go away (seems common too).

 

If you anticipate going fully legal talk to a contractor (you can't DIY and get approval) and see what they say about installing in your particular area. Like immigration every MEA / PEA office has their own rules.

 

A thought, are you in a gated community and pay the community for power rather than paying MEA/PEA direct? If so all bets are off as to what they actually want.

[nobodysfriend]

41 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

It's possible that something was lost in translation (they may want to install an export meter) or they just wanted you to go away (seems common too).

 

If you anticipate going fully legal talk to a contractor (you can't DIY and get approval) and see what they say about installing in your particular area. Like immigration every MEA / PEA office has their own rules.

 

A thought, are you in a gated community and pay the community for power rather than paying MEA/PEA direct? If so all bets are off as to what they actually want.

Thanks Crossy ...

 

No , I have a house that is completely off grid , ( somewhere alone in the ' wilderness ' too far away from grid power ) . Electricity is running fine on 2 truck batteries 200AH , for a little more than 3 yrs already .

Enough for my need , it is a small house only ... we are building another , bigger one in the moment , it is connected to the grid , but I want it off grid again when it is ready for this ...

We are living on an island with frequent power cut offs ...

Edited December 28, 2020 by nobodysfriend

[Crossy]

22 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

No , I have a house that is completely off grid

 

Got it.

 

If you want your new house to be off-grid but with grid backup for those dull days you could use a hybrid inverter that does not do grid-tie.

 

To the outside world it looks just like any other appliance, it can never export (it doesn't have the hardware) so no approval will be needed and no island protection required.

 

As a bonus they are rather cheaper than true hybrids ???? 

[Eff1n2ret]

On 12/26/2020 at 5:54 AM, Crossy said:

There's nothing to stop you generating your own power, even if you have a grid connection. No permissions or anything needed.

Regarding permissions, I can only pass on what the contractors of our system said was required:-

Subdistrict municipal office (Tessaban) with panel plan   -    charge 9000Baht

Energy Regulatory Commission - charge 6000 Baht

Provincial Electricity Authority           "         Ditto

 

They said the permissions take a month or two, and are normally granted retrospectively, so they went ahead and installed our system, which has been up and running 12 days. We haven't paid for or put in the Tessaban application, because they said the municipal office might never notice the installation, and if they did there was no penalty for applying retrospectively. The Energy Regulatory Authority for the Eastern Seaboard (we're in Rayong) is in Chonburi and has only a couple of people processing applications, so there's a backlog of hundreds.

We've put in  a 3Kw system with no battery or feedback to the grid, just to see how it goes. My intention is to add more panels and a battery later on, when battery costs come down some more. To feed back to the grid PEA want 9000 baht for permission, and you have to have a digital meter. They pay about a third of the retail price for  the power you produce.