Ed Throws Trade Bodies Into Chaos Over DIY Solar!

Simon Barker said:

More seriously, the whole point of these systems is that they are plug and play. No need to call out an electrician to hardwire them.

I realise that would be a terrible prospect for many on this forum

But I wonder if that's where there's a difference between Britain and Germany, where the Wiring Regulations could provide some better solutions.

In Germany apartments are more common, so plugging a system into an existing socket on a balcony is more practical and I would expect much more common. But in Britain balconies are not that common, I expect your typical British 'balcony solar' system will actually be mounted onto a wall, or other structure, flat roof etc, with it plugged into either an outdoor socket if there's one already available, or possibly a cable through a hole in the wall, plugged in inside, or a new outdoor socket.

In Britain it would help if there was some approved arrangement for an outdoor connection point, connected to an existing socket circuit - it would benefit from the Wiring Regs having some provision for something like the Wieland RST socket/plug arrangements used in Germany.