Energy: payments for excess renewable power produce

Can schools get paid for additional renewable power produced?

Yes, schools can sign up to create an agreement with an energy provider to sell excess energy back to the national grid. A smart export guarantee (SEG) agreement will enable schools within Hertfordshire to sell any of their additional energy that is not used, back to the national grid. Schools need to enter these agreements independently of Hertfordshire County Council.

What is a Smart Export Guarantee Agreement?

This is an agreement between the owner of an asset (called the ‘SEG generator’), such as the school, producing excess renewable energy which can be sold back to the national grid at an agreed rate through an energy provider (called the ‘SEG Licensee’). It should be noted that this does not have to be set up with the current provider of the school’s electricity, and instead schools can choose to shop around to find the best deal.

Ofgem’s website lists the SEG licensees providing SEG tariffs. This agreement must be entered into by the SEG generator, however contact details for Hertfordshire County Council are provided below.

Is my school eligible to set up a SEG Agreement?

The SEG process is a government backed scheme which was set up in 2020. This is currently open to anyone with an installation of one (or more) of the following technologies up to a capacity of 5MW, or 50kW for micro-CHP (combined heat and power) systems:

• Solar photovoltaic (Solar PV)
• Wind Power
• Anaerobic Digestion (AD)
• Micro-CHP (up to 50kW capacity)
• Hydro

These installations can be located within any area of Hertfordshire. You need to show that your installation and installer are certified through the Microgeneration certification scheme (MCS) or equivalent. Full details of the eligibility criteria are available from Ofgem.

You cannot receive a SEG tariff if you are receiving export payments under the Feed-in Tariff scheme. This scheme has now closed to new applicants from the 1 April 2019.

How much will a school be paid for this energy?

There are no set rates for SEG agreements and the details of the rate, contract length and other key terms that are incorporated into this SEG agreement will be defined by the SEG Licensee. However, Ofgem’s guidance on this states that this will always be above zero. However, SEG Licensees may also offer more than one type of SEG tariff.

SEG tariffs will be either fixed or variable:

• Fixed SEG Tariff – A fixed SEG tariff pays a set rate per kWh of electricity exported over the length of the contract.
• Variable SEG Tariff – A variable SEG tariff varies the price based on market demand, as long as the price never falls below zero.

Additionally, the Energy Savings Trust have developed a tool for calculating the benefits of solar panels, including the estimated potential payments from a SEG agreement from solar PVs. Furthermore, Solar Energy UK publishes a league table for the best export tariffs available.

What is needed to facilitate setting up a SEG agreement?

There are several items that must be in place before you can set up a SEG agreement:

• Import/Export meters:
  • Meter with Export function is required. This can be a dedicated export meter OR a meter with both import & export functions.
  • This must be installed at the property and must be capable of reporting energy generation on a half-hourly basis.
  • If you are unsure whether your meter is suitable, please contact your energy provider. For schools on Hertfordshire County Council’s Energy Framework, please contact management@hertfordshire.gov.uk.
    
    
• A G98/99 reference number must be provided:
  • This can be obtained by the installer of the solar PV system. This reference number will be a series of 10 digits beginning with either an 85 or 88.
  • For schools which had PV installations completed through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS), contact the Design and Capital Delivery (DCD) team for this information at DCDRequests@hertfordshire.gov.uk.
    
    
• You will need to get the export Meter Point Administration Number (MPAN) in order to set up the agreement:
  • All incoming supply meters have a unique identifier called an import MPAN.
  • For schools on the Hertfordshire County Council’s Schools Energy Framework, this can be provided by our Energy Management team (management@hertfordshire.gov.uk).
  • This is the number that identifies the specific electricity supply point for a building, and normally will stay the same even if the energy supplier changes.
  • This is typically a 13-digit number.
  • Schools receiving energy from the national grid currently will have an import MPAN number already, however they may not necessarily have an export MPAN number.
  • An export MPAN number can be requested from the Distribution Network Operator (DNO), which within Hertfordshire is UK Power Networks (UKPN).
  • The export MPAN number can be requested from D0168Mpans@ukpowernetworks.co.uk. The import MPAN can be quoted in the email request to UKPN for an export MPAN along with school name and address and G98/99 number.
• Once you have these details, the SEG agreement can be set up with a SEG Licensee.

What is the process for schools to set up a SEG agreement?

An account will be set up with SEG company to enable an annual payment directly to site for their exported energy.

The process flowchart below will outline how schools can set up these agreements: 

Are there any costs incurred in setting this agreement up?

Yes. But the costs will depend on the type of meter you have.

There are 2 main types of meter:

• Non half hourly (NHH) à smaller supplies
• Half hourly (HH) à larger supplies

For export purposes, your meter must be capable of providing consumption data at half hourly intervals. All HH meters by default perform this function. For NHH meters it is an additional chargeable service (currently £55 per annum however this is subject to change). For schools on the Hertfordshire contract this will be paid in instalments added to the monthly consumption bills if you have signed up for this service.

Both HH and NHH meters will incur a Meter Operator charge for the export function, this is currently around £50 per annum (however this is subject to change). Schools on the Hertfordshire contract will be invoiced annually by our energy provider.

Not all meters are capable of exporting energy to the National Grid. In these circumstances, the options available to you can be provided at that time.

Further resources

Some further resources that can advise on setting up SEG agreements are provided below:

• Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) | Ofgem
• Smart Export Guarantee: Guidance for generators | Ofgem
• Smart Export Guarantee (SEG): earn money for exporting the renewable electricity you have generated - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• Smart Export Guarantee explained - Energy Saving Trust

Contact

Hertfordshire County Council’s Energy Management Team (EMT) need to be involved in any metering work required for any sites currently signed up to the School’s Energy Framework. For any questions around this, or if you are unsure whether your school is on the Hertfordshire School’s Energy Framework, please contact energy.management@hertfordshire.gov.uk.

For any other queries, please contact the Design and Capital Delivery team at DCDRequests@hertfordshire.gov.uk.

Ofgem also have contact details on their website for further guidance.