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CFE stops solar credits


El Bizco

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I guess we'd first have to ascertain whether the agreements are legal on their side or not. The way that company operates, with the national level of corruption that entails, it coulda been a janitor who signed the master.

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SunshineyDay. The question seems to be that if during a billing period, we generate more units of electricity than we use, are our extra KWHs we generated carried forward, and can we use them in the future? Now it would appear that at least in many if not all cases anything saved up over a year could be zeroed out. Might they change that to zeroing out , every billing period, every two billing periods, once per year or what?  In the olden days when I got my digital meter 10 years ago, all extra power generated was credited to you and would add up over the years. Apparently, not anymore.

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I read that CFE has an Amparo to prevent those small users from trying to enforce their contracts. Remember, this is the land of amparos of all kinds. The big solar suppliers are trying to get the case into court to resolve the whole thing more quickly than would normally happen here.. Their argument is that it will reduce solar growth in the future, no mention of the real victims, current users/producers. Sound familiar to anyone?

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1 hour ago, pappysmarket said:

I read that CFE has an Amparo to prevent those small users from trying to enforce their contracts. Remember, this is the land of amparos of all kinds. The big solar suppliers are trying to get the case into court to resolve the whole thing more quickly than would normally happen here.. Their argument is that it will reduce solar growth in the future, no mention of the real victims, current users/producers. Sound familiar to anyone?

If the solar sector continues to grow and people pay less to CFE, how is CFE going to pay huge employee  bonuses and huge retirement pay outs. Think they are like Pemex, no?

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OP.....is your news more recent than this statement by STI's rep??

On March 21st in the subject "Anyone Having This CFE problem", Go Solar wrote:

As of today we have still seen no reported changes to the net metering system and the strong belief is that all existing and new solar agreements for small residential and commercial accounts should continue unchanged, including the banking of kWh credits. 

The changes proposed last year have created some confusion and concern, although they are essentially self-defining: 

1 - net metering continues for both residential and small commercial accounts (to go up to 25 kW and 50 kW size limits, respectively, a nice increase to both from 10 and 25) 

2 - net billing for system sizes from 50 to 500 kW 

3 - straight "billing" (payment actually) for pure solar production farms that don't consume. 

Finally, as frustrating and confusing as some of this may seem, it should be noted that the solar grid tied process in most of Mexico is still generally simpler, much more technically "open", far less bureaucratic, much lower cost, and much faster, than comparable ones in a lot of the US & C. 

Read over the goals for solar connection and clean energy rates in the article link from the earlier post and much becomes clear; Mexico's intent is to be the undisputed leader in the western hemisphere in these areas. 
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The way that reads CFE won't pay or issue financial credits for surplus solar power. 

Quote

A year ago, the CFE filed an injunction against regulations drawn up by the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) for the method used to calculate the rates it would pay to solar energy generators, arguing that they led to a loss of income because of the high transmission costs it incurred.

 

Under the regulations, people with solar systems with distributed generation capacity could choose to sell surplus electricity, or all they generate.

The former is known as net billing while the latter is referred to as total sale.

I am wondering if that means we won't be able to carry over surplus power credits between billing periods.

GoSolar or other solar providers could you comment?

 

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We've been asked to comment here on this.

As we understand it, there should be no impact at all for net metering accounts, which covers virtually all residential (and many commercial) accounts.    

This article / debate is about the monetary PAYMENT structure for excess power or total production, whereas net metering setups are based strictly on kWh credits with no $$ being involved going to the solar generator.

We believe net metering users are way ahead of the game that way, >>> simpler, no $$ earnings / tax implications to worry about or report, and as most solar users know and appreciate, any credits one may earn are generally worth at least (and likely more) than what they may wind up paying those other types of account structures.

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I sure hope the residential credits carry forward otherwise a recent investment in more solar panels was wasted money.

At our house in Guayabitos I added more panels to accumulate credits during the low energy usage months to use when running 6 tons of A/C during summer visits and heating tie pool in the winter with a 140K BTU heat pump. Each would consume more electricity than the panels could produce thus the rationale for adding more solar panels.

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3 hours ago, John Shrall said:

I sure hope the residential credits carry forward otherwise a recent investment in more solar panels was wasted money.

At our house in Guayabitos I added more panels to accumulate credits during the low energy usage months to use when running 6 tons of A/C during summer visits and heating tie pool in the winter with a 140K BTU heat pump. Each would consume more electricity than the panels could produce thus the rationale for adding more solar panels.

Sounds like you are roughing it there, John!  :D

I'm curious, do you not have corrosion problems with the solar panels there?  The beach sure seems to eat up AC compressor units.  I would think the beach would be a great place for a bunch of solar for the reasons you noted but have not seen a lot of places there using it, at least on or close to the ocean front.  

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16 minutes ago, moderator-2 said:

Sounds like you are roughing it there, John!  :D

I'm curious, do you not have corrosion problems with the solar panels there?  The beach sure seems to eat up AC compressor units.  I would think the beach would be a great place for a bunch of solar for the reasons you noted but have not seen a lot of places there using it, at least on or close to the ocean front.  

Maintenance is rough as you would expect but why suffer when there are alternatives? It's really hot in September and October.

The solar has been in 2 years on the south side of the house facing away from the ocean.So far I have not seen any issues with corrosion nor did Opiere this last year when they installed the last 10 panels. The inverter is inside a gardener's bathroom pretty well shielded from the elements. eSun did the original install and used high quality connectors for all the cables. My neighbor used a local company and there are visible signs of corrosion due to using cheap parts.

The minisplits compressors seem to be holding up well after 4 years amazingly enough. Two are on the roof facing the ocean and while I see a little rust on the tubes heading down to the blower, the compressors and housings show no visible damage from the elements.

The city water is far more corrosive than the salt air and sand but that's another story...

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1 hour ago, tomgates said:

Just got my latest bill and my 1200+ KwH surplus was still there. Have been running a surplus since 2010. 

My bill in Nayarit doesn't show acumulada/aplicada even though CFE knows I have a solar bi-directional meter. My second bill with a credit should appear this week. If it doesn't appear I'll have to go to Chapala and find out why.

The bill in Ajijic has those numbers even though they are zero at the moment. 

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Mod 2 asked:   I'm curious, do you not have corrosion problems with the solar panels there?  The beach sure seems to eat up AC compressor units.  I would think the beach would be a great place for a bunch of solar for the reasons you noted but have not seen a lot of places there using it, at least on or close to the ocean front.  

>>>  Systems which are well installed as mentioned, using solidly anchored anodized aluminum structural supports (wind), and quality components with proper wiring and connections (salt air) are working well with no issues (just need more frequent panel cleaning)  in many playa installations including right at the beach in Punta Mita and in the PV area in general.   Image attached.    

 

Punta Mita.png

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I have a battery back up system, that I ordered in 2007 when there were more power outages. It was installed in 2008 and I could live off the grid if I had too, but my battery back up system only serves one of my three phases which only feeds the refrigerator, a few lights in each room and my TV and computer power outlets, oh and the electric security fence surrounding my property. 

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1 hour ago, bobby brown said:

there goes my dreams of solar.  maybe independent solar panels with all the batteries is the way to go if it isn,t illegal with the government,  as in the US//, don.t dare go off grid. HA

Keep your dreams alive, bobby b.   Nothing has changed for net metering grid-tied systems.   So let the grid be your "battery"....and your "bank".    

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