Along with the type of technology and installation date, systems must comply with other criteria…
Along with the criteria for installation date and techology type as detailed in this section, there are some more specific requirements for individual systems:
For ‘microgeneration’ – systems below 50kW
Certification of equipment
For systems below 50kW the major equipment needs to be certified by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS). This excludes AD and hydro, where MCS has no standards.
Accreditation of installer
Systems below 50kW need to be installed by a company accredited under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS).
For systems above 50kW (and all AD and hydro)
For larger systems there is an accreditation process called ‘ROO-FIT’ based on that used in the Renewables Obligation.
In principle this requires Ofgem to accredit any system which would be eligible under the Renewable Obligation (as specified in clause 5b of the secondary legislation). The system Ofgem uses requires the system design and details to be submitted online for their approval.
Installations to be registered under the ROO-FIT process may be eligible for preliminary accreditation as described here.
Usage and energy efficiency
To get the optimum financial return, it makes sense to ensure that you are doing all you can regarding energy saving.
Additionally for some building-related systems, lower tariffs apply if the building does not meet defined energy efficiency criteria.
However, if the energy output of the system is not put to productive use, but just wasted to try to increase income, that energy is not eligible for tariff payments.
Metering
Tariffs are paid based on the measured output of the system, gathered by metering.
Sounds complicated?
You shouldn’t need to worry about all these details if you use a supplier who specialises in providing systems under the Tariffs. If you want to get started, read How Can I Claim FITs?