Saturday, December 22, 2012

How To Sell Electricity To The Grid And Increase Income

By Anna Hernandez


There have been numerous challenges facing the energy sector over the years. Many of the challenges are attributable to the constant conflicts within the main oil producing countries. These conflicts have resulted in extremely volatile prices that make the commodities almost unaffordable in some cases. Many governments and private sectors have turned to alternative sources of energy as they attempt to deal with these challenges. After generating enough electricity for their home use many individuals end up with an excess. Unfortunately, they do not know how to sell electricity that they have generated.

Electricity supplied through the grid has traditionally been produced using generators that are run by natural gas, coal or oil. Unfortunately, all these are non-renewable resources that will sooner or later get exhausted. Renewable energy, in contrast, is generated mainly form the sun and wind both of which are infinite in supply. While it might be a bit expensive to set up the equipment required to harness the energy from these sources, the returns are very rewarding.

In an attempt to get many people to invest in renewable energy, many governments are giving incentives and rewards to the investors. These rewards are known as RECs (renewable energy certificates. Whenever the government issues such a certificate, it means that it has established ownership over the resource. A single certificate is equal to 1,000 kWh of energy channelled to the grid.

Sellers are able to redeem these credits for cash at the pre-negotiated rates. It is a challenge for many sellers to redeem the credits as individuals and most will actually sell to middle men instead. The middle men in turn aggregate several credits before redeeming. On average, each seller makes about USD 200 and 300.

There are many other options that can be used to sell the energy. Many of them are designed based on agreements reached between the persons generating power and their utility companies. It is common for the seller to set up what is referred to net-metering. What this means is that the power generated is connected to the power grid using a special form of meter that is able to calculate the difference between what is produced and what is received.

Meters are fitted to the equipment during installation of the equipment. One should make sure that these meters are accredited by the relevant authorities, failure to which they risk rejection. One will be well advised to have one of the representatives from the utility company during installation to avoid future disappointments.

Besides the issue of meter accreditation, many utility companies have other guidelines that must be followed by anyone intending to sell their electricity to them. The guidelines may include, among other requirements, ensuring that the production process does not damage the environment in any way, the equipment used is that recommended by the company and that safety requirements are strictly adhered to.

In most cases, buyers require that the seller is one of their customers. It is important that the producer establishes which companies have this requirement and which ones do not. Another important thing to find out beforehand is the compensation rate used. Whereas some companies will pay for the total output, others have to take the consumption into account. People who want to know how to sell electricity should ensure that they seek the opinion of a qualified expert in the area if they are to avoid disappointments.




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