James Page
Member
- Joined
- May 2, 2020
- Messages
- 14
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- 6
Although no longer directly involved with the IET myself I'd like to spread the word that a draft update of the PV Code of Practice has been published, ostensibly to be brought in line with this year's changes to BS7671. That said I see no reason why they need to be identical - after all the CoP is slightly ‘less mandatory’ than BS7671, the latter focusing on safety rather than broader quality issues.
Installers and customers are woefully underrepresented in the groups writing these codes of practice and if possible should comment on the draft, if they have a view. It is debatable whether there are enough changes needed to warrant a revision right now, but if there is to be one it is also an opportunity to remove any superfluous text or excessive regulation, especially now that compliance is a requirement for MCS projects. (It never seemed right to me that standards that are supposed to be voluntary often become less so, and yet don't attract the scrutiny that regulations should.)
As an example one section that might deserve another look is the ‘Earth Fault Alarm.’ [page 73 of the draft] On the basis that the product standard for inverters (the title given in the document is incorrect, by the way) requires a remote earth fault alarm feature, this has been taken to imply that it must be implemented in all installations. This surely extends the remit of the product standard to system design and use. In social housing PV systems it is often the case that the tennants’ internet is intentionally not used by the solar provider, and there may not always be mobile coverage, even if remote monitoring is desirable. Moreover, transformerless inverters are anyway required to shut down in the event of an earth fault - so the need for the alarm is then much less. This needs to be reflected in the document, I feel.
Finally, now that the CoP is almost a regulation it should also be free, or at the very least an online version of the mandatory (blue text) parts should be.
Installers and customers are woefully underrepresented in the groups writing these codes of practice and if possible should comment on the draft, if they have a view. It is debatable whether there are enough changes needed to warrant a revision right now, but if there is to be one it is also an opportunity to remove any superfluous text or excessive regulation, especially now that compliance is a requirement for MCS projects. (It never seemed right to me that standards that are supposed to be voluntary often become less so, and yet don't attract the scrutiny that regulations should.)
As an example one section that might deserve another look is the ‘Earth Fault Alarm.’ [page 73 of the draft] On the basis that the product standard for inverters (the title given in the document is incorrect, by the way) requires a remote earth fault alarm feature, this has been taken to imply that it must be implemented in all installations. This surely extends the remit of the product standard to system design and use. In social housing PV systems it is often the case that the tennants’ internet is intentionally not used by the solar provider, and there may not always be mobile coverage, even if remote monitoring is desirable. Moreover, transformerless inverters are anyway required to shut down in the event of an earth fault - so the need for the alarm is then much less. This needs to be reflected in the document, I feel.
Finally, now that the CoP is almost a regulation it should also be free, or at the very least an online version of the mandatory (blue text) parts should be.
