The Smart Export Guarantee ‘’SEG’’ is a new mechanism that is being used to pay people who are generating renewable energy. This includes technologies such as Solar PV, Domestic Wind Turbines, Hydro, Anaerobic Digestion and Micro Combined Heat and Power. This initiative will come into force from January 1st 2020.
It is being introduced by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), following the government’s recognition that they need to pay small-scale renewable energy suppliers for the electricity they are exporting to the grid.
As a result of this scheme, it means all licensed energy suppliers with 150,000 or more customers will now need to provide at least one Smart Export Guarantee tariff. They can also choose to offer other means of making payments for this exported electricity, which is separate to the current SEG arrangements.
How much can be made through exporting electricity to the SEG?
There are no set or minimum amounts for this, but all tariffs must be greater than zero at all times. This means that it comes down to the energy suppliers to decide on the amounts to offer to their customers. This is likely to be actioned through a fixed rate per kWh of electricity exported.
You can also combine SEG with other grants and financial support. However, you cannot receive payments for both a Feed-In Tariff and SEG, so you would need to decide on one or the other. You would also not be able to receive SEG from more than one supplier.
Which renewable energy installations are eligible for SEG?
· Solar PV systems, onshore wind, anaerobic digestion and hydro are eligible and up to 5MW
· Micro-combined heat and power are also eligible and have an electrical capacity of up to 50kW
SEG and energy storage?
Some Wind Turbine or Solar PV Installations will have energy storage systems attached to them. If this is the case, then the battery could also store electricity imported from the grid, which is better known as ‘brown electricity’. This can then be exported at a later date.
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