Alternative Technology Assn Forums

1. 

   me3neuralfibrecom
   Member

   I have installed a 1KW PV system at home and are selling the RECS for $980 on the market. I did consider however an interesting thought - and was wondering if anyone could explsin it to me.

   I buy Green Power (100%). Is this Green Power really being bought by my provider, or are they just buying REC's. In which case the extra I am paying, it actually subsidising myself and others.

   If that is the case, the maths about the price I am selling them for hurts my head. (Pirce for recs over life of system vs 44c for excess generation vs 21c for Green Poer vs 16c for normal power etc etc)

   Also - what happens to RECS with Carbon Trading?

   Has anyone seen a good explanation of this?
   And is there a Green Power provider that really buys green power, and not fakes it with RECS?

   Thanx
   Paul

   Posted Wednesday 6 Aug 2008 @ 11:34:32 pm from IP #
2. 

   SusanMorrison
   Member

   Paul
   Have a good browse around the Green Power website - I think it will answer your question. It includes a long list of accredited GreenPower generators - some of these are small systems like yours feeding back into the grid and others are major solar/wind/bioenergy etc. projects. The following link shows where our renewable energy comes from (although I couldn't browse it myself because my browser wasn't supported - you need Internet Explorer 6!):
   http://www.greenpower.gov.au/Map-Navigation-Tips.aspx

   From my limited knowledge of NSW all the major electricity retailers are also invest directly in electricity generation projects - so they are not just buying RECs. It would be worth having a look at your state electricity retailers websites to see what projects they are involved in. I assume you have already looked at greenelectricitywatch.org.au

   As for RECs after the introuction of ETS - sorry, haven't got my head around that yet! Ask you electricity retailer and I bet they shake their head too!! Let me know what they say.
   Sue

   Posted Friday 8 Aug 2008 @ 7:07:45 am from IP #
3. 

   TB
   Member

   Hi Paul,

   The GreenPower system does revolve around RECS, but they have strict criteria about which RECS are eligible for surrender under the scheme. The RECS you sold after your PV array was installed may well end up being purchased by a GreenPower energy retailer and then surrendered as part of their compliance with the GreenPower rules.

   There's nothing wrong with that in my mind. The only catch is that you and I can't have our cake and eat it too: by selling our RECS we have given up the right to claim the clean, renewable energy produced on our roofs for use in our homes. Unless we continue to opt in to GreenPower, the energy we use will almost certainly be provided by the coal industry.

   I use greenswitch dot com to buy back a share of RECS sufficient to ensure that for every kWh of energy used in my home another one will be generated from renewable sources and fed back into the grid. It's annoyingly complex because the way the feed-in tariff metering is installed here in Qld (and I presume elsewhere) makes it extremely hard to know how much of the energy produced by your panels is immediately consumed within the home - that energy doesn't get counted by the meter because it doesn't flow through it!

   My inverter has a digital meter on it showing the cumulative amount of AC power produced. So I have three readings to take into account: the amount of energy output by the inverter, the amount of energy exported to the grid and the amount of energy imported from the grid. Using some nice round estimates, over 90 days my panels might produce around 360kWh. I might export 90kWh and import 450kWh. AGL would charge me the cheap (coal) tariff for the 450 and pay me the FiT rate for the 90.

   But the total amount of energy used in my home is (inverter + import - export) = 720kWh. So that's how much I would quote to greenswitch dot com when buying RECS to cover my home's energy consumption.

   And as Susan wrote, after the introduction of the ETS we might not have a RECS scheme at all. In that case I guess we might consider the money we made from selling the RECS as a windfall and see what happens then.

   TB

   Posted Tuesday 26 Aug 2008 @ 12:10:00 pm from IP #

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