Plug-in Solar supposedly going to be 'easier'?

The units proposed are safe, in the fact that they need mains to work. So if you pull the plug you don't have live pins in your hand, and similarly if you have a mains outage, you cannot feed back into the mains to give some guy working on the circuit a shock. I am going to install one of these units, but have questions, particularly for the IET, as they may have had an input with government discussions. As a DIY person will be able to plug these in, there will have been no qualified person involved, so :- You will still need to fill out a G98 as you are connecting to the network. The present G98 needs qualification details from the Electrician installing it. Will this form be changed to allow an unqualified person to apply. 

Once you get the form at apply for a  DNO, will you be able to apply for export payment. Presently not allowed unless installed by a MCS certified Electrician, but of course it won't be. The rules say you can't export without these forms, but once plugged in, you will export on a nice day. My base load is only around 350w, and I fully expect to get 750w from my proposed set up. Can anyone in the know, let me know what the new proposals are going to be. Thanks

Hot just means alive, or 'live', while in my day job it either means energized with RF, or radioactive.. 

note we do already do see exactly this US-centric  language in instructions for things like generators that have been translated from the foreign for the UK market -   Hire a big set from Agrekko, and ask for a the  manual and the Cummins or Perkins American data you get sent uses  Ground and grounded, and hot and so on, in practice once you know, there is no problem with understanding it.

It is however worth throwing the makers advice on NE bonding away and doing it properly.

Mike

Sergio Fernandez said:

Should the Insurance Industry sit on JPEL64 and advise in some capacity on Balcony Solar PV before it becomes an issue like Loft battery storage

With fixed BESS in mind, I asked my insurers only a few days ago, "Do you impose any restrictions or conditions on solar PV installations please?"

The answer was, "There are no restriction in relation to Solar panels. You would need to ensure that the buildings sum insured is adequate to cover these."

Well no more so than a slew of other dangerous things folk routinely plug into their sockets already (those series connected outdoor fairy lights come to mind, and the not quite CE compliant phone charger that catch light with depressing regularity perhaps). 

I think we need to realize this is already happening and will happen more,  legal or not, and rather like main dealers wondering why folk buy second hand cars when new ones are so expensive, there will be a need for DNOs and disgruntled MCS installers  to make the best of things whatever happens.

If 'installation' t really has to be notified to anyone at all, there will need to be a less than 3 minute  un-notification process as well, so that when you fold it up and take it with you the registration does not persist at the wrong address. You might for example take it with you on a ten day self-catering holiday to save on the  bill at the caravan park, same as you might bring your own tinned food and 4g internet hub. 

Its probably simpler and more reliable not to bother too much at all, and just fix up only where it goes wrong.

Mike

Sergio Fernandez said:

It is my honest opinion that we need some rules/regulations/guidance/product standard in place for UK Balcony Solar PV sooner rather than later.

The whole point of balcony solar is to get around the endless regulations, bureaucracy and red tape that stops people doing things.

The kits will be type approved, like any domestic appliance. And like a domestic appliance, you buy it, take it home and plug it in. All without any inspection or paperwork.

They also mention Grounding several times which is not really a term used in BS7671

There's quite a lot of that kind of thing in the IT sector - even with kit supplied by the UK divisions of very reputable companies. Sometimes it's not just the instructions either - a few things have arrived with flex with black, white and green cores - that needed some head scratching the first time.

   - Andy.

gkenyon said:

I believe all the Electrical Energy Storage System fires we know about, that have occurred here in the UK, have been Lithium Iron Phosphate ..

That's interesting (worrying even) - there seem to have been a range of chemistries available in domestic BESS systems (e.g. table 2 of https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5f761b828fa8f55e33275cfc/domestic-battery-energy-storage-systems.pdf) and the withdrawn LGChem ones seem to have included Cobalt oxide so might have been LCO or NMC but can't have been LiFePO. If all the fires have been LiFePO but only some of the systems were, that might suggest either some people have been very lucky or we're missing a trick somewhere...

   - Andy.

I'd really like to see the evidence that all the EESS fires you know about contained LiFePo4 chemistry cells. Especially as you were responsible for heading the team that created PAS63100.

I smell a rat with Graham Kenyon's comment. I've already found a battery fire in Nottinghamshire that was caused by a short circuit in the NMC cells used in the BESS.

How many domestic appliances generate electricity that's then fed back through the fixed wiring system?

Steve Nixon76 said:

I've already found a battery fire in Nottinghamshire that was caused by a short circuit in the NMC cells used in the BESS.

Please could you share the details. It's not easy to gather this information. Many domestic fires seem to be recorded as Solar or just 'electrical' ... we need more granularity of recording.

Public knowledge regarding the LiFePO4 fires.All grid-scale. These are the ones that seem to be easier to track. 

Steve Nixon76 said:

I've already found a battery fire in Nottinghamshire that was caused by a short circuit in the NMC cells used in the BESS.

Please could you share the details. It's not easy to gather this information. Many domestic fires seem to be recorded as Solar or just 'electrical' ... we need more granularity of recording.

Public knowledge regarding the LiFePO4 fires.All grid-scale. These are the ones that seem to be easier to track. 

gkenyon said:

Please could you share the details. It's not easy to gather this information. Many domestic fires seem to be recorded as Solar or just 'electrical' ... we need more granularity of recording.

Ah found it ... relatively new fire, 1 May: https://www.ess-news.com/2026/05/07/exclusive-short-circuit-in-nmc-batteries-caused-fire-at-uk-bess-project/

It's an older system ...  and wouldn't align with current guidance (double-stacked).

Not seen a report on that yet.

Before this one, Carnegie Road in Liverpool, plus some newer grid-scale. All relatively new when the fire happened (at least one not yet commissioned). Issues with the lithium iron phosphate appear to be arc faults at cell level, probably due to a manufacturing defect - still pretty serious fires, though.

Steve Nixon76 said:

I'd really like to see the evidence that all the EESS fires you know about contained LiFePo4 chemistry cells. Especially as you were responsible for heading the team that created PAS63100

The working group responsible for PAS 63100 did not have any special or privileged access to specific information not already in the public domain. DESNZ have published various reports.