Eneco introduces regulation of business customers’ solar panels

Businesses with more than 100 solar panels on their roofs can have a considerable effect on the grid balancing. Grid balancing is essential to guarantee the availability of power, which is why Eneco OpwekOptimaal [Optimal Generation] is to become a standard part of Eneco’s business contracts for electricity* for businesses with solar panels that feed power back to the grid. Eneco will be able to regulate the use of the solar panels to ensure a more stable power grid while the customers still reap the financial benefits of their solar panels.

Plenty of businesses are boosting the energy transition by having solar panels installed on the roofs of their premises, often enough to supply most of the power they need themselves. However, due to matters like the vagaries of the weather, those solar panels also affect the balance between supply and demand on our electricity grid. As Eneco OpwekOptimaal is now to be included as a standard part of our contracts with business customers who have more than 100 solar panels, Eneco can regulate the electricity yields. Under this arrangement, customers will get a free control box which, once installed, can dim or even switch off the solar panels remotely.

That feature is both good for the grid balancing and profitable for the customers, as it goes without saying that business customers will still enjoy the financial benefits of their solar panels. They will be fully compensated for the electricity that they could not generate; in addition, the customers will receive an extra feed-back fee to a limit of € 0.01 per kWh for all the electricity that is fed back, optimising the financial advantages of the solar panels for the customers while enabling Eneco to stabilise the grid more efficiently.

Dick Velings, Eneco’s Business Director, says: ‘Eneco is working hard to accelerate the energy transition, but we also need to use the sustainable energy that is fed into the grid more wisely. We are getting better and better at it, thanks to smart regulating technology. By including Eneco OpwekOptimaal as a standard part of business contracts, we can continue to accelerate the transition while helping stabilise the power grid. We think that’s the most logical way to proceed.’

*When concluding a new business contract, if the unit can produce more than 60 kWp and meets all the technical requirements.