Subsidy for home batteries: what does this mean?

The Flemish government has approved the decision on a premium for stationary installations for electrochemical electricity storage. Simply put: Minister Lydia Peeters announced the long-awaited subsidy for home batteries.  

What do we know about this? We'll put it in a row for you:

The premium

• Fixed premium of EUR 250 per kWh capacity of the battery with a maximum of EUR 3,200 per connection point. The premium can never be more than 35% of the investment cost.
• The total investment cost is the sum of:
  • Purchase price incl. VAT of the storage system.
  • The cost of the battery inverter. In case of a hybrid PV and battery inverter, 50% of the cost price of the inverter is charged.
  • The installation and placement costs.
• In the case of leasing, investment cost means the total leasing cost during the first 10 years of the lease contract (sum of the monthly premiums).
• Currently limited to the years 2019 and 2020.

Who is eligible

• Natural persons who own a PV installation connected to the grid in Flanders, legal persons such as companies are excluded.
• Per connection (EAN number) a maximum of 1 premium every 10 years.

Technical Conditions

• Only homes equipped with a bi-directional and digital meter are eligible. If you do not yet have a digital meter when you apply for the premium, the cost of installing such a meter is also reimbursed up to a maximum of EUR 300. When you apply, you must enclose a copy of the approved offer for the installation of such a meter. The premium cannot be combined with the 15-year right to a reverse meter.
• The installation must be installed by a certified installer, inspected, and reported to the grid operator (e.g. via the Fluvius website).
• The installation is connected to a PV system with a maximum AC inverter power of 10kW.
• The battery installed is not considered a lead-acid battery. 
• The installation must have a bi-directional communication interface. 
• It has an injection limit of 60% of the maximum inverter power or a smart control of the installation that achieves at least the same result. 

Treatment

• The Environment Department will process applications in the order in which they are submitted
• The premiums are granted until the budget for the calendar year in question has been used up. A budget of EUR 5 million is currently foreseen.

As you can read, this draft decree is very concrete. It has also been given a legal basis, and the chance that it will fail the test of the Council of State is extremely small. 

Of course, AlphaESS' storage systems with their cobalt free lithium iron phosphate technology all fall within the scope of the draft decree.