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Solar PV DC earthing.

Jake Morgan

Hi all, I'm in the process of designing a solar install where the DC strings are going to have to be buried in the fabric of the building. I am planning to use PV ultra SWA cable or earthed steel conduit and make sure there are plans to record where it is, as per IET COP for Solar PV 5.10.3. 

It has got me thinking about what actually happens in a scenario where someone drills through it. With 230V AC systems the earthed containment would contact the Line and cause a short circuit that would hopefully trip an MCB/RCD. DC strings do not have a reference to earth nor is there any device to trip so what happens? Or is one of the poles earthed in the inverter?

Can anyone point me towards further reading on this?

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    Hi Jake, In Australia, we use inline fuses for similar situations. We don't rely much on Earth in such situations, as we usually have a single Earth running with a bunch of DC cables. All DC cables run through ( + and - ) via fuses at either the roof top or inverter station. Cheers. 

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    Hi Jake, In Australia, we use inline fuses for similar situations. We don't rely much on Earth in such situations, as we usually have a single Earth running with a bunch of DC cables. All DC cables run through ( + and - ) via fuses at either the roof top or inverter station. Cheers. 

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