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

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. 

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. 

None that I can think of. But if they are made to a proper standard, the risks should be minimal. Even if someone is a bit naughty and plugs in more than one. 

Currently the ROI (Return On Investment) on Balcony solar is not that brilliant in the UK but as more people in the UK buy it the price will drop and make the ROI better.

It may not be too bad.

Lidl has them on offer for €249

I don't speak German, but I think that they suggest that the pay-back period is between 3 and 24 months. Mike can let us know.

Sadly  Bequem in 3-24 monatlichen Raten zahlen is not the pay-back time. More like ' make yourself  comfortable and arrange to  pay for this product in 3 to 24 monthly instalments. '

Fair and square aiming at folk with less than 20 euros left at the end of each month after the rent is paid - a demographic totally passed by for the MCS installed process.

Payback will depend on season and mounting arrangements. But may well be less than 24 months.

Mike.

Thanks, Mike.

On a bright sunny day like today, you might get the full 800 W for 12 hours. £3 saved at 25 p/unit, but if you go out to work, you will get much less for selling it back to the grid. In winter you might get 200 W (I am guessing) for 8 hours.

I don't think that a saving of 50 p/day would be an unreasonable assumption, so pay-back in less than 2 years seems perfectly feasible.

Oh yes, certainly and you dont need to add much battery to that to make it more useful if you go out to work. Its just not what the german said!

Oh yes, certainly and you dont need to add much battery to that to make it more useful if you go out to work. Its just not what the german said!

Well yes, and the pay-back from the leccy might be more than you pay back on the loan each month.