Solar power plants create benefit but only if installed with due care

With the growing interest of residents in generating electricity at their homes, specialists of Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius (ESO) advise against taking arbitrary steps to install solar power plants. Obtaining connection conditions issued by the company is necessary first of all, then entrusting the work of installation to certified and knowledgeable professionals. Otherwise, power plants may malfunction or break down, while arbitrarily installed equipment may damage the distribution network, electrical installation or devices.

Arbitrary work may leave both the owner of the power plant and residents of the surrounding village, town or region without electricity. Occasionally, arbitrarily installed or improperly operated power plants disrupt the operation of other power plants in the neighbourhood, damaging home appliances of neighbours.

ESO recommends to waste no time in trying to install a power plant on one’s own, choosing qualified power plant installers instead, so that the power plant is installed in accordance with the requirements of the Law on Renewable Resources, the Law on Electricity and the rules.

It is also important to follow the consistency of document approval. Customers need to complete an application (on eso.lt self-service portal) and wait for connection conditions, which will provide information on what power plant customers can have installed on the existing electricity network. 

“The inlet capacity available to the customer granted for his ownership does not necessarily mean the possible capacity of a solar power plant. Be sure to check with ESO - what is the permitted inlet capacity and what power plant can be installed. This is what technical conditions, where ESO assesses the capacity of electricity networks and the possibility to connect a solar power plant thereto, are necessary for”, Renaldas Radvila, Head of Service Department at ESO, recommends. 

Having received and approved the necessary documents, a solar power plant will have to be installed. By the way, it is important to keep in mind that ESO will have to be provided with a declaration from certified contractors certifying that the power plant has been installed and will operate properly. Such a requirement is necessary so that the user of the solar power plant does not cause any harm to the existing electricity network or other electricity users.

ESO reminds that simplified and shorter procedures have been introduced in July for residents willing to have solar power plants of up to 10 kW and for businesses – up to 30 kW installed. Customers no longer need a permission to develop electricity generation capacities and permission to produce electricity. Such changes allow completing all formalities within 30 days rather than a few months, as it was before.

The number of users of solar power plants has been growing very rapidly. According to calculations of the Ministry of Energy, there were 260 of them in January 2017, compared to nearly 1 800 in June of this year. Several years ago, their combined power totalled about 2 megawatt hours (MW), and in June of this year, their total power was more than 14 MW.

The Ministry of Energy plans to allocate nearly EUR 20 million this year for motivating generating consumers, so that there are nearly 35 000 of them by 2021.