TABLE OF CONTENTS How do you export power from your local energy installation to the electricity grid? Until recently, connection was a notoriously complex business, depending not only on your installation and whether you hope to get some income from the export, but also on regulations that were intended for very different electricity generators and distribution network operators (DNOs) whose procedures and attitudes vary widely. However, a new connection standard designed for the job has simplified matters considerably, as have new regulations that determine the price paid for the connection and that will force DNOs to offer export tariffs to new generators.
At bottom is a new attitude that acknowledges that, rather than being a nuisance or a sideshow, local energy projects can strengthen existing energy-supply arrangements, reduce the need to make expensive reinforcements to the grid when new demand in the form of new housing or business arrives in the area, introduce efficiency and persuade people to use energy with more care.
Connection standards are designed to achieve several things:
the safety of electric appliances and people in the home;
the safety and reliability of the DNO's network;
the safety of engineers working on the generator and the DNO network.
For DNOs, connecting large numbers of small generators to the network is very new and it has a number of implications. For example, for engineers, the question of safety is paramount: staff working on electrical cabling need to be sure that, once the main supply is off, the...
