Ukrainian Government offers people to sell their surplus electricity generated by solar panels

National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) of Ukraine intends to oblige regional power distribution companies to run household photovoltaic installations within five days. This information is presented in the draft document on solar energy accounting, buying and selling rules released for public discussion on NERC website.

The National Commission justifies such innovations by the rules of the relevant legislation. The fact is that in November 2012 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine amended the law "On Electric Power Industry", allowing individuals to sell their excess electricity at the price of 3.90 UAH/kWh. This change in the law relates to helio-power installations with the capacity up to 10 kW. For reference, in October 2013 the price of 1 kWh produced by thermal power plants was equal to 0.59 UAH.

According to the experts, these amendments to the legislation will be primarily beneficial for the producers of photovoltaic installations (solar panels and related equipment). The initiative of NERC will also be advantageous for middle and small design and installation companies. According to analysts, the cost of installing domestic solar panels in the house with a monthly electricity consumption up to 500 kWh varies from 15 000 to 30 000 US dollars. Thus, with account of electricity sale to the state, the payback period of such projects could be reduced till 3-5 years.

Today PV modules for the houses with electricity consumption up to 500 kWh cost from $ 2000 (made in China) to $ 4000 (made in Europe). The equipment of the Ukrainian origin will be cheaper - from $1200 to $2600 dollars depending on the capacity. The experts also note that the norm of "local" component, when the share of Ukrainian products in generating solar energy should be from 30 to 50%, will not extend to private householders producing electricity (on the contrary to large-scale solar or wind power stations).

According to the forecasts of the specialists of the profile association, the total capacity of domestic photovoltaic installations in Ukraine may reach 1 GW by 2017. It is approximately 2% of the total power generated in the country. In monetary terms, the cost of this energy will be about 2.5 billion euro per year.

At the same time, the experts find it difficult to make any predictions regarding the potential income of people selling electricity to the state. In this case it is necessary consider each proposed project separately. If we talk for example about Germany, where such scheme was introduced a few years ago, then there the income of one household selling surplus electricity reaches 1.5 thousand euro annually.

Nevertheless, we should note that the situation with household solar power plants in Ukraine is still very far from the projected figures. The modules of such type are not registered in the country yet. For the time being the total capacity of Ukrainian units does not exceed 0,005 GW.