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Guidance for plug in solar for Electricians

Alan B

We are now a few days from plug in solar being legal. The likes of Martin Lewis is recommending people should ask an electrician to check their installation before plugging a solar system in.

I have seen various comments referring back to changes in the law and changes to the specification for a 13A plug.

But I haven't seen any guidance from IET, NAPIT or NICEIC for electricians stating under what conditions it's acceptable to plug one of these systems in.

Personally as it stands today based on what I have seen I would not be willing to say iny installation is acceptable unless it was a single socket on it's own circuit protected by a bidirectional type A RCBO. Which I am sure isn't what the government wants.

Have I missed something, is something in the pipline?

I know lots of people will just do it, but in those situations I am not responsible.

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    AJJewsbury said:

    "homes with Type AC RCDs should not use plug-in solar systems without first upgrading"

    which seems to leave homes with no RCDs at all without any constraint ... which seems a little inconsistent.

    Just read the electrical safety first document.

    https://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/safety-advice/products-and-appliances/green-energy/plug-in-solar-panels/ 

      It says 

    "we recommend households have at least a Type A bidirectional RCD protecting circuits intended for use with plug-in solar panels. Until these concerns are addressed, homes with Type AC RCDs should not use plug-in solar systems without first upgrading to a minimum Type A bidirectional RCD on those circuits."

    To me the type AC bit is just reinforcing that type AC RCD's are not acceptable, not that a consumer will be able to identify which they have.

    Which is fairly clear guidance and NICEIC have said they support the statement, I can't find anything from NAPIT other than their response to the consultation.

    So there is some documentation I can quote if I have to defend guidance I am giving. But no doubt going by the continuing divergence between NICEIC, NAPIT, IET, Electrical safety first on other issues they will come out with statements that are slightly but critically different over the next couple of months.


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  • 0
    AJJewsbury said:

    "homes with Type AC RCDs should not use plug-in solar systems without first upgrading"

    which seems to leave homes with no RCDs at all without any constraint ... which seems a little inconsistent.

    Just read the electrical safety first document.

    https://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/safety-advice/products-and-appliances/green-energy/plug-in-solar-panels/ 

      It says 

    "we recommend households have at least a Type A bidirectional RCD protecting circuits intended for use with plug-in solar panels. Until these concerns are addressed, homes with Type AC RCDs should not use plug-in solar systems without first upgrading to a minimum Type A bidirectional RCD on those circuits."

    To me the type AC bit is just reinforcing that type AC RCD's are not acceptable, not that a consumer will be able to identify which they have.

    Which is fairly clear guidance and NICEIC have said they support the statement, I can't find anything from NAPIT other than their response to the consultation.

    So there is some documentation I can quote if I have to defend guidance I am giving. But no doubt going by the continuing divergence between NICEIC, NAPIT, IET, Electrical safety first on other issues they will come out with statements that are slightly but critically different over the next couple of months.


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