Solar Power Plants: Installing Solar for Personal Use is Not Simple, but It’s Not Rocket Science Either

As we increasingly turn to clean and green energy sources and, equally importantly, consider how to reduce monthly costs, solar power plants are becoming more popular. Although public interest is growing, driving through Slovenia, Austria, or any other EU country, we will still see more roofs ‘dressed’ in panels than in Croatia, which remains at the bottom of the EU in terms of the number of installed solar power plants.

Energy expert and assistant professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing Ninoslav Holjevac highlights indicative data that could answer the question of why this is the case. According to a recent survey by the IPSOS agency commissioned by one of the EU Parliament parties, 91 percent of Croatian citizens know nothing or almost nothing about the process of obtaining permits and installing a solar power plant, more than 80 percent do not know what energy communities are, and over 65 percent believe that the state does not provide the necessary information to interested parties about the possibilities of producing their own energy.

All this indicates that citizens lack education about the advantages of solar energy, and the process of realizing the installation of solar power plants is complicated, making it difficult for them to understand all the necessary steps. So what does the process of installing solar power plants look like, how long does it take, what should be kept in mind, and what are their basic advantages?

Five Important Steps

The process of realizing the installation of a solar power plant on a house roof is not simple, but it can be reduced to five key steps, in which attention should be paid to several things. The first step is, of course, to check whether we meet all the conditions for installation. Namely, anyone wishing to install a solar power plant must be the owner or co-owner of the property on which the installation is planned and the owner of the measuring point, explain the representatives of the Green Energy Cooperative (ZEZ). This is particularly important because it can sometimes be difficult to reach an agreement among owners. Then, attention must also be paid to conditions related to the property – the slope and orientation of the roof, the type of covering, the available area for installation, and the type of connection and contracted power.

The second step consists of creating the main electrical engineering project that defines the technical specification of the solar power plant that will best meet the household’s needs, prepared by authorized design companies. Then, it is necessary to check the possibilities of connecting to the grid, which is done by submitting a request to the local branch of HEP ODS, which is obliged to respond within 15 days of receiving the request. The ZEZ adds that at this stage, it is good to explore opportunities for co-financing costs, for example, through the annual competition of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund.

The fourth step is to find an installer, and the ZEZ recommends requesting multiple installation offers so that the potential owner can make a good and profitable decision regarding the choice of installer. The fifth and final step is the replacement of the meter and securing a permit for permanent operation. In this regard, Holjevac advises that, after receiving information about the possibility of connection, the replacement and relocation of the meter should be paid for as soon as possible, as there is currently a wait of more than the legally prescribed 30 days for meter replacement due to a lack of equipment.

– It is recommended to seek offers and contacts from contractors immediately after the conceptual project is completed because the volume of work with solar installations is increasing, and contractors are overbooked, so there may be delays. Likewise, timely contact with the contractor can ensure that equipment, panels, and inverters are procured on time – emphasizes Holjevac.

Particularly Pay Attention to Consumption

And although time is one of the most challenging parts of the installation, regarding the duration of the entire process, Srećko Tamburović, a researcher in the Department of Renewable Energy Sources, Climate, and Environmental Protection and a solar expert at the Hrvoje Požar Energy Institute, emphasizes that it depends on a number of factors, the most significant being the duration of the response from the distribution system operator, which largely depends on human capacities in a given distribution area. The ZEZ adds that the duration of the entire process, ideally, is up to three months, but it is often longer.

– Nominally, the process of obtaining a permit for installing solar power should not take long, but historically, it has often been lengthy. From an average duration of the procedure of up to a year, connection procedures have been reduced to three to four months, which still needs to be expedited – notes Holjevac.

The ZEZ adds that the realization period can be extended by the processes of applying and waiting for approval for co-financing the realization costs.

To ensure that the entire process is not in vain, or ultimately becomes less profitable, when installing panels, it should be taken into account that the current legal framework provides for two production models: users of self-supply facilities, which applies exclusively to the ‘household’ category, and end customers with their own production. The self-supply model is financially more profitable, but it is important to have production equal to consumption. Therefore, it is necessary to consider how much energy the power plant is expected to produce and what the expected consumption is. Because, as Tamburović says, the production of a solar power plant, viewed on an annual basis, according to current legal regulations, must not exceed the amount of one’s own consumption at the billing measuring point.

– It is very important to understand this and to design the power plant so that it does not produce more than your needs because otherwise, you may fall into another category of customers, those with their own production, which reduces the profitability of the investment and entails other legal obligations – Tamburović added.

Solutions to this problem should not be overly complicated. It is necessary to pay attention to consumption, change habits, and know how to distribute energy. For example, if we produce too much electricity, we do not have to heat with gas or wood, but we can turn on the air conditioning – thus saving one energy and using the surplus we have.

About why it is important to think about installing solar power plants, what all the advantages are, how citizens are encouraged to install them, and whether we are utilizing the potential we have regarding solar energy usage, you can read in the new printed and digital edition of Lider.