Are the Middle East issues forcing Solar Considerations?

Ectophile

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81935596#Comment_81935596

I can't imagine that the grid is going to crach because of a few panels that produce 800W, or about 3.5A maximum.

My (obsolete) solar install can do about 3400W on a good day, but at under 3680kW, the application pretty much went through on the nod. A single wind turbine might produce 5000000W on a windy day. Nobody is even going to notice the effect of these panels.

QrizB

I believe there are safety concerns connecting these to the grid if simply plugged into a 13A socket. They will not have the appropriate surge or RCD/RCBO protection as many RCD devices are not bi-directional, and some homes may not even have RCD devices fitted if they have not had their electrics updated for a while.

I'm with @Ectophile:

There's a huge disconnect between what the IET, NICEIC and other trade bodies want, and what consumers do.

There's no obligation on owner-occupiers to have a single RCD anywhere in their property. They coud still have rewirable fuses. The house remains legal and insurable.

So if anything went wrong then, the insurance would likely side with NedS and refuse to pay out. I think I'll give it a miss as still have an old consumer unit with wire type cartridge fuses.

In @Swipe's particular case, adding plugin solar will have no significant effect on their cartridge fused consumer unit. The fuse will blow when overloaded, exactly as it does today. There's no RCD or RCBO to damage or be compromised.

This also has implications for the DNO.

Or maybe it doesn't. There are already thousands of un-notified PV systems in use, including some multi-kilowatt rooftop ones (where the installer didn't bother notifying). The DNO will find out if they have problems when they occur; high voltages reported by monitoring equipment, perhaps, or complaints from customers when their inverters shut down.

Or perhaps we all just look the other way and hope it will be OK (like the electrical regulations).

That's the most likely outcome IMHO. We'll have to wait and see what the actual rules are, when they're published.

Unless of course anyone here works for DESNZ or the IEEE and wants to give us some insider knowledge 😉

Swipe

@QrizB I do have a main RCD for the CU and one on my radial garage circuit that was later added to the CU (about 15 years ago)